Jordanian court jails seven Brotherhood figures over Gaza donation funds, acquitting former leader of laundering
Sentences of six months to three years were handed down on 25 October in the “collection of donations and money laundering” case. The rulings are appealable until late November, and the wider association file stays open.
A Jordanian court on Sunday 25 October sentenced seven leaders and activists of the banned and legally dissolved Muslim Brotherhood in the case known locally as قضية جمع التبرعات وغسيل الأموال. Murad al-Adaileh, the group’s former Comptroller General, received six months for the misdemeanour of collecting donations by unlicensed means and was acquitted of participating in violating the anti-money-laundering law; Tareq al-Raqab received six months on the same count. Ahmad al-Zarqan, Aref Hamdan, Ibrahim Hijazi, Mohammad Alyan and Omar Yassin each received three years, convicted of both violating the anti-money-laundering law and collecting donations without a licence. The defendants said the money was raised for residents of the Gaza Strip; the prosecution’s case concerned how funds were raised, managed and accounted for — channel and transparency, not destination. The names and sentence lengths were identical across Ammon News, Al Jazeera Arabic, Al-Quds Al-Arabi and the Emirati daily Al-Khaleej.
The case grew out of investigations that followed the April 2025 ban, which involved the seizure of the group’s movable and immovable property, headquarters and funds after the arrest of a cell accused of holding weapons and planning sabotage; Al Jazeera notes the State Security Court prosecutor summoned al-Adaileh in mid-2025 over the financial file. The rulings can be appealed within 30 days, so the window closes around 24–25 November. Al-Quds Al-Arabi’s Amman correspondent read them as closing this particular file while the broader Brotherhood association file remains open. No monetary total appears in any verdict report retrieved. The Jordanian chapter has been a US-designated Specially Designated Global Terrorist entity since 13 January 2026, when Treasury listed it alongside the Egyptian chapter for material support to Hamas.
Assessment: The shape of the sentencing matters more than its existence. The most senior defendant drew the lightest penalty and was acquitted on the laundering count; the heavier three-year terms fell on less prominent members. That is a court distinguishing between charges, not a state ratifying a narrative — which is precisely what the coverage around it is doing. Two claims now circulating have no court source: Erem News’s single anonymous line that donation money went to internal political activity, and Hafryat’s assertion of “millions of dollars” moved outside banking channels. Neither is a finding as reported. The date to watch is the appeal deadline in late November, and after it the association file Amman has pointedly left open.