Saudi Arabia takes aim at Muslim Brotherhood

Saudi Arabia is pursuing a new campaign to denounce the Muslim Brotherhood, the Islamist political movement feared by most Gulf monarchies, as Riyadh prepares to deal with what is likely to be a less friendly US administration under Joe Biden.

Over the past two weeks, officials, religious scholars and state media have warned Saudis about the group’s ideas, saying they sow dissent and call for disobedience against the state’s rulers. They have urged people to report members to authorities.

Such diatribes are an indication Riyadh is worried that President-elect Biden’s administration will more closely watch the autocratic kingdom’s human rights record and be more tolerant of peaceful Islamist activism, experts say.

It was not known if authorities had arrested anyone since the campaign began.

The Saudi government did not respond to a request for comment on the campaign and if it was linked to the incoming US administration.

The Brotherhood, which welcomed Biden’s election win earlier this month, denied the Saudi accusations.

“The group is far away from violence and terrorism, it has been rather a victim of dictators’ terror,” the movement’s Egyptian branch said on Tuesday.

It called on the new US administration to review policies which it said supported dictatorships.