Brotherhood splinter group in Jordan announces new Supreme Guide

Ex-members of Jordan’s Muslim Brotherhood announced on Friday the appointment of Abdul-Majeed Thunaibat as their new Supreme Guide, it has been reported.

Speaking during a press conference in Amman attended by several other former Brotherhood members, Thunaibat said that a “new executive bureau” for the group has been formed. Senior leaders of the Islamic movement described the move as a “coup” against the Muslim Brotherhood.

Undeterred, Thunaibat insisted that, “The executive bureau is now the legal representative of the Muslim Brotherhood in Jordan, after the group has had its status legalised and ended its allegiance to the mother organisation in Egypt.” The legalisation move, he added, was meant to protect the group by setting it on firm legal, political and administrative ground. Critics reiterated that the new group is not in need for such “legalising” as the Brotherhood obtained an official licence as an Islamic group in 1953.

The members of the new executive bureau included Sharaf al-Qadaa as a Deputy Supreme Guide along with Qasim Ta’amna, Khalil Askar, Ali Tarawneh, Mohammed al-Qaramsheh, Mamdouh Muhaisin, Jaber abul-Haija and Jamil al-Dhissat. All have been dismissed from the “official” Brotherhood.

Jordanian Prime Minister Abdullah Al-Nsour told members of the original group that the current conflict between the two groups is internal and the state has nothing to do with it. According to Anadolu, Mr Al-Nsour said that the Muslim Brotherhood can seek a legal solution for its internal conflict through the state judiciary. “Nothing has changed for the movement except the dissolution of its executive bureau and Shura Council,” he said.