Muslim Brotherhood slams Saudi ‘terror’ accusations

By Rabie al-Sukkari

CAIRO (AA) - Egypt’s Muslim Brotherhood has denounced Saudi Arabia’s recent characterization of the group as a violent “terrorist” organization.

On Tuesday, Saudi Foreign Minister Adel al-Jubeir called on Qatar to stop backing certain Islamic organizations, citing Egypt’s Brotherhood and Palestine’s Hamas in particular.

Speaking during a visit to France, al-Jubeir said Saudi Arabia’s recent decision to cut relations with Doha was not aimed at harming Qatar but rather to force it to “choose" between Saudi Arabia and these groups.

"The Muslim Brotherhood denounces, with deep indignation, the accusations leveled against the group by Saudi officials,” the Brotherhood said in a Wednesday statement.

"Since its establishment, the Muslim Brotherhood has maintained positive relations with the people and rulers of the Gulf countries, providing them with cultural, scientific, political, economic and social services," the statement read.

Since the ouster of Mohamed Morsi -- Egypt’s first freely elected president and a Brotherhood leader -- in a 2013 military coup, the group has been banned in Egypt, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates (UAE).

The Brotherhood stresses its commitment to "peaceful" means of protest with a view to reversing Egypt’s 2013 coup, which was openly supported at the time by Riyadh and Abu Dhabi.

On Monday, five Arab states -- Saudi Arabia, Egypt, the UAE, Bahrain and Yemen -- abruptly cut diplomatic ties with Qatar, accusing it of supporting terrorism.

Mauritania followed suit the following day, while Jordan has downgraded its diplomatic relations with Doha.

Saudi Arabia has also closed its land borders with Qatar, geographically isolating the tiny Gulf state.

Doha, for its part, strenuously denies the accusations against it, describing recent moves to diplomatically isolate it as “unjustified”.