CAIRO // Leaders of Egypt’s Muslim Brotherhood group and allied clerics said on Saturday that they are departing Qatar, where they had sought refuge following the removal of Egypt’s Islamist president Mohammed Morsi and the crackdown on his supporters.
Their presence in Qatar had severely strained Doha’s relations with Egypt and its Gulf neighbours, which view the Islamist movement as a threat. The expulsion threatens to further isolate the group, which rose to power in Egypt through a string of post-Arab Spring elections but suffered a dramatic fall from grace during Mr Morsi’s divisive year in office.
Former minister Amr Darrag, who was also the top foreign affairs official in the Brotherhood’s Freedom and Justice Party, and fiery cleric Wagdi Ghoneim said they are leaving Qatar following a request to do so by the Gulf monarchy.
“I decided to move outside of the beloved Qatar ... so as not to cause any annoyance, embarrassment or problems for our brothers in Qatar,” Mr Ghoneim said in a video message posted on his official Facebook page.
Mr Darrag, in a statement posted on his page, said, “We value the role of Qatar in supporting the Egyptian people in its revolution against the coup. We understand well the conditions it is facing in the region.”
The highest-ranking member of the group residing in Qatar is Mahmoud Hussein, the secretary general of the Muslim Brotherhood. According to Rassd, a news agency affiliated with the group, Mr Hussein is among those who will be leaving the country. The agency said they will be searching for another base in exile, possibly Turkey.
Qatar was a close ally of Mr Morsi, and relations between Cairo and Doha have been tense since his removal, with Egypt accusing Qatar of backing the Brotherhood. Egypt has accused Qatar’s Al Jazeera network and its offshoots of serving as a mouthpiece for the group in its campaign against the government.
The network has denied the allegations. But its Egyptian branch, Al Jazeera Mubashir Misr, devotes its entire broadcast to covering near-daily, scattered demonstrations by Mr Morsi’s supporters and frequently hosts pro-Islamist commentators.
Many Brotherhood leaders fled Egypt after Mr Morsi’s removal, as security forces launched a sweeping crackdown on his supporters. Egypt has branded the group a terrorist organisation, outlawed its political party and shut down Al Jazeera’s offices in Cairo. It has imprisoned three Al Jazeera journalists convicted on charges of joining and aiding the group and fabricating news footage.
Qatar’s support for the Brotherhood has angered its Gulf neighbours, which view the Islamist movement as a regional threat and gave billions of dollars in aid to Egypt after Mr Morsi was overthrown in July last by then-army chief Abdel Fattah El Sisi amid massive protests demanding his resignation. Mr El Sisi has since retired from the military and become president.
* Associated Press
