By — Carey Reed Carey Reed Leave your feedback Share Copy URL https://www.pbs.org/newshour/world/top-muslim-brotherhood-figure-jailed-jordan Email Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Pinterest Tumblr Share on Facebook Share on Twitter Top Muslim Brotherhood official sentenced to jail in Jordan World Feb 15, 2015 2:25 PM EDT A Jordan military court sentenced a top Muslim Brotherhood official to 18 months in jail on Sunday for publicly criticizing the United Arab Emirates. Zaki Bani Rushaid, the deputy head of Jordan’s branch of the Muslim Brotherhood, was convicted of “sourcing ties with a foreign country” after he was arrested in late November for writing an opinion piece published online in which he attacked the legitimacy of the UAE’s rulers and claimed they were supporters of terrorism, the New York Times reported. The op-ed was a response to the UAE, a key financial backer of Jordan, labeling the Muslim Brotherhood a terrorist organization. While Rusheid received his sentence Sunday in a court in Jordan, Egypt’s deposed president Mohamed Morsi, a high-ranking member of that country’s Muslim Brotherhood, sat in an Egyptian court to face charges of espionage, the Associated Press reported. The Muslim Brotherhood was established in Egypt in 1928 by fundamentalists opposed to Middle East government ruling at the time and rose to become a political powerhouse by force, according to reporter Michael Isikoff, who traced the group’s history in a 2007 documentary “The Brotherhood” for PBS. By — Carey Reed Carey Reed Carey Reed assists in covering breaking and feature news for NewsHour Weekend's website. She also helps the NewsHour Weekend broadcast team in the production of the show. She is interested in the flourishing fields of data journalism and information visualization and recently graduated, with honors, from Columbia University’s Graduate School of Journalism. @careyereed
A Jordan military court sentenced a top Muslim Brotherhood official to 18 months in jail on Sunday for publicly criticizing the United Arab Emirates. Zaki Bani Rushaid, the deputy head of Jordan’s branch of the Muslim Brotherhood, was convicted of “sourcing ties with a foreign country” after he was arrested in late November for writing an opinion piece published online in which he attacked the legitimacy of the UAE’s rulers and claimed they were supporters of terrorism, the New York Times reported. The op-ed was a response to the UAE, a key financial backer of Jordan, labeling the Muslim Brotherhood a terrorist organization. While Rusheid received his sentence Sunday in a court in Jordan, Egypt’s deposed president Mohamed Morsi, a high-ranking member of that country’s Muslim Brotherhood, sat in an Egyptian court to face charges of espionage, the Associated Press reported. The Muslim Brotherhood was established in Egypt in 1928 by fundamentalists opposed to Middle East government ruling at the time and rose to become a political powerhouse by force, according to reporter Michael Isikoff, who traced the group’s history in a 2007 documentary “The Brotherhood” for PBS.