By Assad Abboud
Source: Yahoo News
Riyadh (AFP) - Saudi Arabia
listed the Muslim Brotherhood and two Syrian jihadist groups as
terrorist organisations Friday, and ordered citizens fighting abroad to
return home within 15 days or face imprisonment.
The move
represents a major escalation against the Brotherhood of deposed
Egyptian president Mohamed Morsi and indicates rising concern in Riyadh
over the potential risks to domestic security of Saudi extremists
fighting in Syria.
Riyadh
staunchly supports Sunni-led rebels battling to overthrow Syrian
President Bashar al-Assad but has long feared blowback from radical
jihadist groups, particularly after a spate of attacks by a local
Al-Qaeda franchise from 2003 to 2006.
Friday's
move comes two days after Saudi Arabia, Bahrain and the United Arab
Emirates recalled their ambassadors from Qatar, which supports Islamists
groups in the region and was a backer of the Brotherhood.
A
list published by the interior ministry designates as terrorist
organisations the Brotherhood, Al-Nusra Front, which is Al-Qaeda's
official Syrian affiliate, and the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant
(ISIL), a rogue group fighting in both Syria and Iraq.
The interior ministry, in a
statement carried by state media, said it will prosecute anyone backing
these groups "financially or morally", or who express sympathies for
them or seek to promote them through media and social networks.
It also forbids "participation in, calling for, or incitement to fighting in conflict zones in other countries."
Saudis fighting abroad were given a 15-day ultimatum Friday to return home or face imprisonment.
Prison also awaits anyone calling for demonstrations or taking part in them, the ministry said.
And analysts warned of the effect of that on civil liberties.
Saudi Arabia hailed the July overthrow of
Morsi and pledged billions of dollars to Egypt's military-installed
government and, in recent months, has eclipsed Qatar as the main backer
of Syria's rebels.
"There is fear that the text will
be interpreted in such a way to muzzle freedom of expression," said
sociologist Khaled al-Dakheel.
Last
month, King Abdullah already announced jail terms of up to 20 years for
belonging to "terrorist groups" and fighting abroad and tough sanctions
for anyone backing the incriminated organisations.
Rights
group Amnesty International sharply criticised that decree, saying it
could be used to suppress peaceful political dissent because the law
used an "overly vague definition of terrorism."
- Political Islam a challenge -
In
2011, Saudi Arabia set up specialised terrorism courts to try dozens of
its citizens and foreigners accused of belonging to Al-Qaeda or being
involved in a wave of bloody attacks that swept the country from 2003.
The Saudi and other conservative
Gulf monarchies have long been hostile to the Brotherhood, fearing that
its brand of grass-roots activism and political Islam could undermine
their authority.
On Wednesday,
Saudi Arabia, Bahrain and the United Arab Emirates recalled their
ambassadors from Doha, over Qatar's backing of the Brotherhood in Egypt.
The
move is an unprecedented escalation of tension with a fellow member of
the Gulf Cooperation Council, which also includes Kuwait and Oman.
It
reflected the fury of these three nation at Qatari support for Islamist
groupings that emerged in the wake of the 2011 Arab Spring uprisings
that toppled dictators in Tunisia, Libya and Egypt who had long
oppressed radical Islamists.
It
was also seen as a revival of the on-again, off-again rivalry between
Riyadh and Doha, oil- and gas-rich monarchies that have long vied for
regional influence.
Egypt,
which has launched a sweeping crackdown on the Brotherhood and detained
reporters from Qatar's Al-Jazeera news network, has meanwhile said its
own envoy would not return to Qatar.
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