Observers contend some in the group are now attempting to distance it from
its Egyptian parent following a region-wide crackdown on its members and
activities in Egypt and several Gulf states, where the group is now banned
as a terrorist organization.
Jordanian Muslim Brotherhood to split from Egypt parent: sources
Branch officially registered in Amman in 1946
Majid Al-Amir Asharq Al-Awsat Monday, 2 Mar, 2015

Amman, Asharq Al-Awsat—The Jordanian government is to re-designate the
Muslim Brotherhood’s branch in the Hashemite Kingdom a Jordanian group,
independent from its parent organization based in Cairo, informed sources
told Asharq Al-Awsat on Sunday.

This follows a request made in recent weeks by a number of senior members of
the group in Jordan to the country’s government, asking it to grant the
branch a new license to operate in the country independent of its parent
organization in Egypt. This would be the first such change from the original
license granted to the group in 1946, when the Jordanian government
designated it a branch of the Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood organization.

The request highlights a recent rift in the Jordanian branch of the
organization, with several prominent figures expelled due to their position
on the status of the group vis-à-vis its Egypt-based parent, where the
organization’s main international headquarters is located.

A source within the Jordanian cabinet, who requested anonymity, told Asharq
Al-Awsat on Sunday that the government had now responded to the request and
voted on Sunday to grant the group a new license as a Jordanian
organization, independent from the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt.

Procedures to finalize the new status of the group are now due to begin
within a “few days,” according to Abdul Majeed Zunaybat, a senior member of
the Brotherhood in Jordan.

Speaking to Asharq Al-Awsat, Zunaybat, who led the recent efforts to
re-designate the status of the group in the country, said the government
would not get involved in the ongoing intra-branch rift and was dealing with
the request in a strictly legal capacity.

Other members of the Jordanian branch, however, speaking to Asharq Al-Awsat
on the condition of anonymity, denied the existence of any such rift.

They maintained that the head of the Jordanian Brotherhood, Hammam Said, had
said in a recent high-level branch meeting that he was not against the
re-designation of the branch’s status, but that the current request made by
some members of the group to the cabinet had been “premature.”

Those members had met recently to vote on the status of the group in Jordan,
and agreed on the split from Cairo, Raheel Al-Ghoraybeh, a senior member of
the branch, told Asharq Al-Awsat.

“The Brotherhood in Jordan does not belong to the current leadership. For
that reason, a number of senior members decided to hold a conference to vote
on the status of the group so that it becomes a genuine Jordanian
organization and independent from the Brotherhood in Egypt,” he said.

However, this was subsequently “completely ignored” by the group’s
leadership in Amman, Ghoraybeh said, and resulted in the breakaway faction,
led by Zunaybat, heading to the Jordanian government to officially make the
request.

The Jordanian Muslim Brotherhood is one of the most prominent opposition
groups in Jordan but has been at loggerheads with the government recently
following a crackdown on Islamist groups in the country.

Observers contend some in the group are now attempting to distance it from
its Egyptian parent following a region-wide crackdown on its members and
activities in Egypt and several Gulf states, where the group is now banned
as a terrorist organization.