Saudi denies designating Muslim Brotherhood as terrorists

A former member of Saudi Arabia’s Shura Council, Ahmed Al-Twijri, has denied that the kingdom ever designated the Muslim Brotherhood as a terrorist organisation. The lawyer insisted that the official statement about the issue was misinterpreted; it actually meant those “whose profession is terrorism, explosions and distorting ideologies of societies.”

Speaking to Rotana Khalijia TV, Al-Twijri said that the Brotherhood includes nations and states, so no mindful man can designate it as a terrorist organisation. The head of the International Justice Organisation pointed out that the movement is “massive, stretching from Indonesia to Morocco.”

However, those, who call for the reform of societies, he said, including the introduction of Sharia Law in state constitutions, seeking to correct people’s conceptions about different issues and seeking to achieve their goals peacefully, were not included in the original “banning” statement. “They have no problems with the Kingdom,” he insisted, before pointing out that the governments of Turkey and Morocco are affiliated to the Muslim Brotherhood, and the movement’s members are part of the government in Tunisia. In Kuwait, he added, there are Brotherhood members calling for strategic alliances to be formed with them.

In addition, he stressed that the relationship between the Muslim Brotherhood and the kingdom is historic, despite the recent ups and downs. The good deeds between both sides “must not be forgotten,” he said.

Relations between the Brotherhood and Saudi Arabia are expected to revert to what they were before its perceived designation as a terrorist group under the late King Abdullah. The movement operated freely in the kingdom before a recommendation from the former chief of the Royal Court, Khalid Al-Twijri, to ban it. He is described as the leader of the campaign against the Muslim Brotherhood in Saudi Arabia.