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Saudi Arabia has arrested nine university professors for their alleged links to the banned Muslim Brotherhood movement, media reported yesterday.
Investigators found the professors, two Saudis and the rest from neighbouring countries, had been involved with “foreign organisations” based on “voice recordings and e-mails” linked to them, Okaz daily reported.
It identified the organisation as the Muslim Brotherhood, designated by the interior ministry in March as a “terror” group.
The investigation should be completed by mid-June, said the daily which is close to the government.
If convicted, the group could be jailed for 10-15 years, after which the foreigners would be deported, it added.
Saudi Arabia and the UAE have cracked down on Islamists accused of links to the Brotherhood and other Islamist groups.
Riyadh had hailed the Egyptian military’s ouster of Mohamed Mursi, the Islamist president who hails from the Brotherhood. It has also pledged billions of dollars to the army-installed government in Cairo.
But in the past Saudi Arabia gave refuge to many Brotherhood members who suffered repression in the 1960s under the regime of Egypt’s first modern military ruler, Gamal Abdel Nasser.
Traditionally, members of the group were active in academic institutions in the kingdom.
On Sunday, Saudi Education Minister Khaled al-Faisal was quoted by media as saying that this was the reason behind the “spread of extremist ideology” in the kingdom.
“We offered them our children and they took them hostage... The society left the stage for them, including schools,” he said.
l A court in Saudi Arabia has sentenced a man to death for shooting at security forces in the kingdom’s Eastern Province with a machinegun, a local newspaper said yesterday.
Shia Muslims have staged sporadic protests in the province for years. The latest wave of demonstrations coincided with the Arab Spring uprisings in 2011 and 2012.
The man, who activists said was a Shia, was also found guilty of buying weapons and harbouring rioters, Okaz reported, without giving his name.
The paper said he shot at security forces in the towns of Tarout and Darin, both east of the Qatif governate, which has been at the heart of recent protests.
At least 21 people have been shot dead in the Eastern Province since early 2011. Most Saudi Shias live in the region and some say they suffer discrimination in the kingdom, a charge authorities deny.
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