Amman: Jordan has arrested the deputy leader of the country’s Muslim Brotherhood after he criticised the UAE for classifying the movement as a “terrorist organisation”, a judicial source said Friday.
Zaki Bani Rsheid was summoned late Thursday for questioning by the state security prosecutor who later ordered his detention for 15 days, which could be extended.
He was accused of “acts that could harm Jordan’s relations with a brotherly state” after he criticised the UAE for blacklisting 85 Islamist groups as terrorist organisations.
The list, published last week, is similar to one issued by Saudi Arabia in March. It blacklists several groups including Al Qaida, Daesh, the Muslim Brotherhood and Yemen’s Houthi militia. Bani Rsheid criticised the move.
Jordan and the UAE are partners in the US-led campaign against Islamist militants, and both countries have carried out air strikes on Daesh targets in Syria as part of an international coalition.
Bani Rsheid is the third senior Brotherhood figure to be arrested in recent months in Jordan as part of a crackdown on the opposition. The Brotherhood is Jordan’s largest opposition group, and until now, the kingdom mostly allowed it to operate freely.
The Muslim Brotherhood was formed in Egypt in 1928, and branches of the group appeared across the region over the years.
It is the main opposition force in Jordan and has wide grassroots support.
In September, Jordan arrested senior Brotherhood member Mohammad Said Bakr on charges of incitement against the authorities.
Bakr, a member of the group’s consultative council, was detained after criticising the government at a public event, and accusing it of being “subject to the United States”.
