Amman, Asharq Al-Awsat—There will be no change in the Muslim Brotherhood’s status in Jordan, Prime Minister Abdullah Ensour confirmed following a meeting with the group on Thursday.

Ensour met with a number of Jordan’s Muslim Brotherhood leaders in Amman to discuss the political fallout of Amman’s recent licensing of a Muslim Brotherhood splinter organization. He stressed that any controversy over the move, with both Muslim Brotherhood parties now claiming to be the legitimate group, must be resolved through the courts.

The delegation from the original Muslim Brotherhood included Controller General Sheikh Hammam Said and Shura Council leader Nawaf Obeidat, among other senior leaders.

Their spokesman Saud Abu Mahfouz told Asharq Al-Awsat: “Prime Minister Ensour informed the delegation that the status of the Muslim Brotherhood will not change and that the government will take no action against it.”

He confirmed the “historic” relationship between Amman and Jordan’s branch of the Muslim Brotherhood, which has been outlawed in other Arab states including Egypt.

As for the splinter organization and Amman granting it a political license, Abu Mahfouz stressed that this has nothing to do with the “original” Muslim Brotherhood branch and leadership, which was elected according to Muslim Brotherhood procedures.

“We, in the Muslim Brotherhood, do not need to go to the courts [to resolve this] even if the government licenses any other group under the name of the ‘Muslim Brotherhood’.”

Another senior Jordanian Muslim Brotherhood figure, Mohamed Aqal, who also attended the Ensour meeting, told Asharq Al-Awsat that Ensour confirmed that the prime minister had stated that the licensing of the new group did not change the legal status of the original Muslim Brotherhood group in Jordan.

He said that Ensour said that Amman is not “targeting” the historical Muslim Brotherhood group, which has had a long presence in the country.