TRANSLATED: Key Muslim Brotherhood figure arrested in Jordan begs dangerous question of monarchy: What do you want exactly?

Translated today by Mideastwire.com (for a free trial email info@mideastwire.com).

Key point comes at the end: Arresting recently released salafist (proto-ISIS) figures and now the “mainstream” Brotherhood opposition figure is arrested leaves everyone wondering what the heck does the Hashemite regime want exactly when it comes to their internal opponents. It is a very dangerous question left unanswered…

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On November 26, the Qatari-owned Al-Quds al-Arabi daily carried the following report by its Amman office Chief Bassam Bdareen: “The Jordanian government’s viewpoint in regard to a controversial issue that is still provoking debates in the Kingdom under the headline “the arrest and prosecution of Sheikh Zaki Bani Irsheid,” is still stable along two axes, as it was directly understood by Al-Quds al-Arabi from Minister of Communication and Government Official Spokesman Dr. Muhammad al-Mumani. The first is that the arrest and prosecution of [Muslim Brotherhood] Deputy General Observer Sheikh Bani Irsheid is a “limited measure” with a legal aspect, linked to a direct violation represented by the offense towards a brotherly state, without there being any intention to carry out escalation against the Muslim Brotherhood group.

“The second is that the circumstances of the “offense towards the Emirates” by the most prominent leader in the MB, does not leave any legal, political or practical room for it to be disregarded, especially since it violated a rule that was set on the highest levels to prevent the “move” of any polarization, problems or disputes related to the Muslim Brotherhood file in particular to the Jordanian internal scene. The one who violated that rule, and consequently the law, is in the government’s opinion Sheikh Bani Irsheid, a few days before a planned visit by King Abdullah II to Abu Dhabi… Despite that, Al-Mumani assures that the government still considers the Islamic Movement to be part of Jordan’s national and social fabric, and there are no plans to escalate the situation with it. On the other hand, it would not be wise for the MB to concoct fictive scenarios based on a purely legal measure.

“This is especially true since this measure was adopted following a blatant violation of the law that cannot be ignored, considering that what Bani Irsheid said about the Emirates does not fit in the category of “political criticism…” Al-Mumani thus explained that the legal measure adopted in the case of Bani Irsheid was purely Jordanian, unlike what is being said about the fact that pressures were deployed in this direction… Also, according to the official viewpoint, Sheikh Irsheid’s wing is not appreciating the government’s respect of Jordanian specificity. Indeed, the MB file is escalating in all the neighboring countries and they are being banned by major states, without them being harassed in Jordan. According to the authority, the Muslim Brotherhood command is not showing enough appreciation for this issue…

“But according to the Islamic movement, to human rights [associations] and civil society circles, the prosecution of Bani Irsheid is purely political and carries security dimensions, in the context of the series of practices that are provoking the Muslim Brotherhood and surrendering to the Emirati and Egyptian pressures on Jordan. Hence, according to the MB media official, Sheikh Murad al-Adaila, the government’s pretexts and excuses are weak and the arrest of Sheikh Bani Irsheid is a message enhancing the conviction in the prevalence of the logic of “suppressing public freedoms” and targeting the Islamic movement in particular… Al-Adaila hinted to the fact that these provocations were programmed and that the Islamic movement did not specifically know what was required of it. However, it knows it will not recant its religious and political role and will continue to assume it…”