Bahraini media is reporting that the country’s foreign minister has said that “Bahrain backs brotherly Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates in confronting the plans of the ‘Muslim Brotherhood.” According to a report by the Bahrain News Agency:
Bahrain
March 21, 2013 Manama (BNA) — Foreign Affairs Minister Shaikh Khalid bin Ahmed bin Mohammed Al Khalifa has stressed that Bahrain backs brotherly Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates in confronting the plans of the ‘Muslim Brotherhood’.
Shaikh Khalid said that Bahrain is facing the ‘Muslim Brotherhood’ group and its ‘clear terrorist threat’ to the stability of Egypt, Saudi Arabia and the UAE and considers such plans as a threat to its security, as well.
He affirmed that Bahrain will ‘deal with any threat from the Muslim Brotherhood group in Bahrain in the same way it deals with any other potential threat to its security and stability.’
The Foreign Minister emphasised that ‘whatever poses a threat to the security and stability of brotherly Saudi Arabia and the UAE affects directly those of Bahrain, and vice versa, and whoever holds hostility towards them is undoubtedly our enemy.’
Shaikh Khalid denied the media reports quoting him as saying that the Muslim Brotherhood group was not a terrorist one, stressing that ‘each country deals with it according to what its followers do against it, while keeping unified stances on it.’
‘That’s what I said and meant during the press conference in Islamabad yesterday, which is clear and does not lend itself to interpretations,’ he explained, adding that he is responsible for the statements he has made, and not for the misinterpretations of media outlets.
He stressed that the Muslim Brotherhood Movement is an international one that has its own approach and exists in many countries across the world, noting that each country deals with it according to its law and the agreements it is committed to.
In February 2013, we reported that the Muslim Brotherhood in Bahrain was boycotting a session of the national dialogue. A post from January 2011 reported on a renewed alliance between the Muslim Brotherhood of Bahrain and their Salafist counterparts. A post from 2010 reported on the difficulties faced by the Bahraini Muslim Brotherhood in the elections at that time.
A UK media report provides more information about the Muslim Brotherhood of Bahrain whose political arm is known as Menbar.
