UAE | Government

Shaikh Abdullah slams Muslim Brotherhood

Muslim Brotherhood violates sovereignty of countries, Abdullah says

By Samir Salama, Associate Editor
Published: 19:35 October 8, 2012

Image Credit: Ahmed Kutty/Gulf News
Foreign Minister Shaikh Abdullah Bin Zayed Al Nahyan greets his Ukrainian counterpart Kostyantyn Gryshchenko during a press confrence at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs office in Abu Dhabi on Monday.

Abu Dhabi: UAE Foreign Minister Shaikh Abdullah Bin Zayed Al Nahyan on Monday denounced the Muslim Brotherhood as “an organisation which encroaches upon sovereignty and integrity of nations”.

“The Muslim Brotherhood’s thinking does not recognise borders or sovereignty of nations. So, it is not unusual that the international Brotherhood organisation works to make inroads upon sovereignty and laws of countries,” Shaikh Abdullah told a joint news conference with his Ukrainian counterpart, Kostyantyn Gryshchenko, in Abu Dhabi on Monday.

Shaikh Abdullah was commenting on the UAE’s talks with other countries to prevent the Muslim Brotherhood’s acts in the country.

Islamists detained in the UAE are said to have confessed to forming a secret organisation aimed at destabilising the country’s political system, local reports said last week.

Arabic dailies in the UAE quoted unnamed sources close to the investigation as saying that members of the banned Al Islah, or Reform, association, allegedly confessed to planning to topple the UAE regime. Al Islah has traditionally been associated with the Muslim Brotherhood.

Shaikh Abdullah said it was necessary to talk with various countries to cooperate and concert efforts to uncover mistakes committed by individuals or organisations which take advantage of these countries.

The sources also said the organisation had been acting “in high-level coordination with the organisations of the Muslim Brotherhood in three other Gulf states”, without naming them.

Shaikh Abdullah said no one rejects any acts by people who respect laws and the sovereignty of countries. “The problem emerges when a chapter of an organisation believes that it has a status that allows it to encroach upon the laws and sovereignty of other countries,” Shaikh Abdullah said.

Branches of the main Egypt-based Muslim Brotherhood exist in a number of societies. Most chapters are members of an international body and accept the overall leadership of the “general guide” — a figure who has almost always doubled as the leader of the Egyptian organisation, which is often referred to in other countries as “the mother movement”.

Shaikh Abdullah said he thinks the UAE, Ukraine and any other country of the world will not accept any such organisations which consider themselves as supreme to others and adopt the only doctrine they believe is appropriate for the entire world.

Shaikh Abdullah also stressed that the UAE can talk with its citizens openly and transparently “but we cannot allow other parties to take unwarranted advantage of the resources of our country for their ends”.

The Muslim Brotherhood activists will be tried based on Article No.180 of the Penal Code which bans the establishment of clandestine organisations, official sources revealed.

The sources affirmed that the technique of the organisation relies on hitting the legitimacy of the country, spreading fabricated stories about corruption allegations, and degrading the prosperous living conditions in which people live in the UAE as fake and illusive.