Muslim Brotherhood supporters
Muslim Brotherhood supportersReuters

Jordan arrested a senior member of the country's Muslim Brotherhood on Tuesday on charges of "incitement" against the authorities, AFP reported.

Mohamed Said Bakr, a member of the Brotherhood's consultative council, was detained for 15 days by prosecutors after criticizing the government at an event marking the end of the conflict in Gaza, a judicial source was quoted as having said.

The Jordanian Brotherhood's political wing, the Islamic Action Front, condemned the arrest.

"It is unacceptable that clerics and activists should be arrested on the basis of positions they expressed," said IAF Secretary General Mohamed al-Zayoud on the party's website, according to AFP.

Zayoud called for the "immediate release" of Bakr, saying that "stable regimes would not be threatened by a speech given at a festival or expressing an opinion".

At the event in Amman on Friday, Bakr used insulting terms to describe Jordan's leaders, and accused the government of being "subject to the United States".

He also congratulated Gazans for their "victory" against Israel and said he was "waiting for and hoping to celebrate the victory of Jordan and the victory of Jordanian men and the victory of the Jordanian army, while we are on the longest frontlines" with Israel".

The Jordanian branch of the Muslim Brotherhood is generally tolerated by the authorities and has wide grassroots support, but has often protested against the Jordanian government.

The group also objects to Jordan’s peace treaty with Israel and has often organized protests calling for its cancellation.

In 2012, Jordan’s Muslim Brotherhood  sharply criticized the naming of a new ambassador to Israel, saying the move was “an act of provocation towards Jordanians.”

In 2011, Israel temporarily evacuated its embassy in Amman after calls by Jordanian activists for a ‘million man march’ near the embassy building.