The Saudi Arabian monarchy has labeled the Muslim Brotherhood a terrorist group, ministry officials announced on Friday.
The declaration was made by a committee tasked with identifying groups with extremist agendas, the Associated Press reported. A royal decree issued in early February states anyone who associates with, belongs to or fights with extremist groups could face up to 30 years in prison.
Al-Qaeda was included on the list of terrorist groups. The jihadist groups Nusra Front and the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant, which are currently fighting with rebels in Syria, were also called terrorist groups.
The threat of prosecution is apparently the government's attempt to curtail the number of Saudi's traveling to Syria, Yemen or Iraq, the AP reported. Hundreds of Saudi's are believed to have already fled to join the Syrian conflict.
The fear is that Saudis will return home with radical sentiments, and then turn on the government.
Saudi King Abdullah gave the OK for the committee's findings, according to a Saudi Interior Ministry statement obtained by the AP.
The Muslim Brotherhood has faced backlash since the overthrowing of former Egyptian President Mohammed Morsi in July 2013, the AP reported. Saudi Arabia even banned all Brotherhood books from a Riyadh book fair and pulled out its ambassador in Qatar, the AP reported.
Egypt's Foreign Ministry lauded Saudi Arabia's declaration.
The decision "reflects the coordination and solidarity" between Egypt and Saudi Arabia, ministry spokesman Badr Abdel-Attie told the AP. "We expect other countries to fulfill their responsibilities in the fight against terrorism."
The Muslim Brotherhood released a statement expressing confusion over Saudi Arabia's declaration.
"It is one of the founding principles of the group not to interfere in matters of other states, and this new position from the kingdom is a complete departure from the past relationship with the group, since the reign of the founding king until now," the Brotherhood said, the AP reported.
