Following Saudi Arabia’s decision to declare the Muslim Brotherhood as a terrorist organization, the National Alliance to Support Legitimacy issued a statement Monday, condemning the decision, and calling on Saudi Arabia to reconsider it.
Saudi Arabia declared the Muslim Brotherhood as a terrorist organization on March 7, along with Hezbollah, Al-Qaeda and the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant, among other organizations.
The declaration came in accordance with Saudi Arabia’s new terrorism law, which was issued a month earlier, and which many rights groups have stated includes an extremely vague description of what constitutes terrorism.
However, away from the concerns of human rights groups, the National Alliance to Support Legitimacy denounced Saudi Arabia’s stance, noting in the statement on their Facebook page that the decision surprised the Alliance, which considers Saudi Arabia to be the seat of the Islamic nation.
The Alliance further stated that their struggle aims towards achieving respect for the will and freedom of the Egyptian, adding that their revolution is peaceful and seeks to achieve the goals of the January 25 Revolution towards freedom and democracy.
However, the general atmosphere in Egypt has been one of overwhelming support for the decision, and the Foreign Minister previously declared that he expected other Arab nations to follow in the same steps.
Further, political expert and member of the National Salvation Front Wahid Abdul Megeed commented on the National Alliance to Support Legitimacy’s statement on Tuesday, dismissing it as simply an attempt to prove its continuity on the political scene.
He added in a statement to Youm7 that the Alliance has become irrelevant in terms of affecting Egyptian affairs, both internally and externally.
The Egyptian government declared the Brotherhood a terrorist organization on Dec. 25, 2013, after the Dakahlia Security Directorate was bombed by unknown assailants.
This reinforced an already stringent crackdown on Muslim Brotherhood affiliates, and following Egypt’s declaration, many non-MB activists were arrested too.
Among them was political science professor Emad Shahin, who was accused of supporting a terrorist organization for allegedly publishing statements in support of the Brotherhood. The rampant arrests sparked major concerns over the crackdown on activists.
Similarly, the Saudi Arabian terrorism law has been the object of much criticism from organizations like Human Rights Watch, and Amnesty International, who aired fears that the law “featuring an overly vague-definition of terrorism and granting the Ministry of Interior sweeping powers, will speed up the crackdown on peaceful dissent.”
