Jordan announced on Wednesday it was banning the activities of the Muslim Brotherhood, a transnational Islamist movement, accusing it of manufacturing and stockpiling weapons and planning to destabilise the kingdom, AFP reports.
The move comes after authorities said they arrested 16 people, including members of the Brotherhood, over an alleged sabotage plot.
"It has been decided to ban all activities of the so-called Muslim Brotherhood and to consider any activity (carried out by it) a violation of the provisions of the law," Interior Minister Mazen al-Faraya told reporters.
"It has also been decided to close any offices or headquarters used by the group, even if it is in partnership with any other parties," he added.
The Muslim Brotherhood has continued to operate in Jordan despite the country's top court in 2020 ruling to dissolve it, with authorities turning a blind eye to its activities.
The Brotherhood's political wing, the Islamic Action Front, is Jordan's main opposition party and the largest in parliament, having won 31 out of 138 seats in September elections.
Faraya said Jordan would also be "confiscating the group's assets in accordance with relevant judicial rulings, prohibit the promotion of the group's ideas under penalty of legal accountability, and consider membership in it a prohibited act".
The capital Amman is home to several Muslim Brotherhood offices. The group often issues statements and organises rallies in solidarity with the Palestinians, especially since the start of the Gaza war in October 2023.
Faraya said any collaboration with the Muslim Brotherhood was banned, as was publishing any content produced by the movement "and all its fronts and arms".
It was not immediately clear whether the ban applied to the Islamic Action Front.
In a parliamentary session earlier this week, some legislators called to outlaw the activities of the Brotherhood and suspend MPs from the Islamic Action Front.
