US gives terrorist designation to Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt, Lebanon, Jordan

The United States on Tuesday designated the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt as well as Lebanon and Jordan as terrorist organisations, fulfilling a long-held demand of Arab allies and US conservatives.

"These designations reflect the opening actions of an ongoing, sustained effort to thwart Muslim Brotherhood chapters' violence and destabilisation wherever it occurs," Secretary of State Marco Rubio said in a statement.

Muslim Brotherhood leaders have said they renounce violence.

The Muslim Brotherhood is a pan-Islamist organisation founded in Egypt in 1928 that later spread across the Arab world. Its founder, Egyptian schoolteacher Hassan al-Banna, argued that reviving Islamic principles in society could enable the Muslim world to resist Western colonialism.

The Muslim Brotherhood is already outlawed as a terrorist group in some countries, including Egypt and Saudi Arabia. Jordan banned it in April of this year, accusing the group of manufacturing and stockpiling weapons and planning to destabilise the kingdom, where it remains widely popular.

A US designation as a foreign terrorist group allows Washington to take punitive measures such as freezing any assets the group might have in the United States and denying entry to group members.

(FRANCE 24 with AFP and AP)