Ammon News - AMMONNEWS - Reformist members of the Muslim Brotherhood have threatened to take escalatory measures against the group if drastic restructure and reforms are not carried out, including organisational disobedience.

According to a communiqué issued by the Second Internal Reform Conference of the Muslim Brotherhood, which was held in Amman on Saturday, participants outlined their demands and detailed steps to be taken if these conditions are not met.

The conference, which was initially set to be held in the southern town of Karak, followed a similar meeting held in Irbid earlier this summer, in which dissenting members of the Muslim Brotherhood declared a “popular uprising” against the movement’s leadership.

The opposition’s first summit in late May was attended by around 100 members and aimed to “overhaul the group’s conservative-dominated leadership”.

This week’s conference came in the wake of internal elections in the Islamic Action Front (IAF), the political arm of the Brotherhood, in which the party selected hawkish figures to rule the party for the coming four years, replacing a moderate leadership.

In their communiqué on Saturday, opposition figures set three demands: an institutionalised structure for reform, the adoption of an executive programme for the reform drive and acceptance of the demands set by the Irbid conference. In May, reformists called for the dissipation of the executive bureau of the Brotherhood and the formation of a “consensus-based” leadership that excludes “the elements of incitement”, in reference to hardline leaders. They even referred to what they called a “secret organisation” inside the group, which, they claim, “should be exposed” and eliminated.

They also demanded changes to Brotherhood’s statute and rectification of the “legal status” of the group, which is currently registered with authorities as a charity.

The critics demanded the leadership support an “awareness programme” designed by the opposition to promote reform among Brotherhood cadres.

The second level of measures planned by dissenters, according to the statement, include the suspension of participation in the mother group’s activities and a halt on all dealings with the executive bureau, leading to a general sit-in and organisational disobedience.

For his part, member of the IAF’s executive bureau Murad Adayleh said that the demands of conference attendees are well known to the Brotherhood’s leadership, but suggested they are being raised through the wrong channels.

“If they want real reform, they should seek to achieve it through the group’s internal institutions and mechanisms. Otherwise, they will go nowhere,” he told The Jordan Times over the phone.

*Jordan Times