AMMAN // A Jordanian court sentenced a senior Muslim Brotherhood official to 18 months in prison on Sunday for criticising the UAE on social media.
The state security court in Amman found Zaki Bani Rsheid, the deputy head of the Muslim Brotherhood in Jordan, guilty of making statements “likely to damage relations between the kingdom and a foreign country”.
The 57-year-old was arrested in November after criticising the UAE on Facebook for designating the movement as a terrorist group.
Rsheid, who was the first major opposition figure to be arrested in Jordan in recent years, made no comment after the verdict but his lawyer Saleh Al Armuti said he planned to appeal.
The UAE is one of Jordan’s main financial backers and the two countries are close political allies. Both are part of the US-led campaign against ISIL.
Jordan’s Muslim Brotherhood — the country’s biggest opposition party — has operated legally for decades and has substantial grass roots support.
It has ideological ties with the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt, which Cairo authorities banned in December 2013, but the two groups are not directly affiliated.
* Reuters and Agence France-Presse
