Jordan's Muslim Brotherhood accuses Amman of sabotage

An executive member of Jordan's Muslim Brotherhood has accused the government of trying to undermine the group by considering a renegade member's attempt to re-register it under new leadership.

Saud Abu Mafouz, a member of the group's executive bureau, criticised the government's consideration of the registration application by Abdul Majid Dhnaibat.

"We understand that every regime tries to employ anything that might weaken its opponent," said Mafouz in a post on Facebook on Monday.

Meanwhile an official source, who wished to remain anonymous, told al-Araby al-Jadeed that Jordan's prime minister, Abdullah Ensour, has refused a request from the group's current leadership to meet to discuss the potential split.

The Jordanian government had earlier announced that it was "not biased towards either side of the crisis... the registration request is being dealt with in accordance with the laws".

The registrar of organisations at the ministry of social development would decide in the coming days whether Dhnaibat's application would be accepted, official sources said.

Dhnaibat, the group's former general supervisor, has said that the re-registration would mean the disbandment of the current group.

Amman has previously said it is 'not biased towards either side of the crisis'.

Dhnaibat's request was filed last month under the pretext that the group's current 1945 licence as a branch of the Egypt's Brotherhood was legally unsound. He and his supporters were then suspended by the Brotherhood.

Dhnaibat said the new group would maintain the structures and members of the Brotherhood but would renew the allegiance process and change the group's statutes and internal laws.

Dhnaibat held the current Brotherhood leadership responsible for the split in the group due to its intransigence in the face of efforts to reform, and its smear campaigns against those who opposed the leadership's position.

The current general supervisor of the Brotherhood, Humam Saeed has directly accused the government of encouraging the expelled group to apply for registration.

The current leadership has also toured a number of governorates to garner support against the decision to disband the group, according to Brotherhood sources.

Jordan has been pressed by Egypt, the UAE and Saudi Arabia to outlaw or disband the Brotherhood, which is classed as a terrorist organisation in all three countries.

Amman has so far refused, saying the group is "part of the fabric of Jordan". However, the government has not denied its strained relationship with the Brotherhood's current leadership, which the government accuses of no longer operating for national objectives.