The Qatari authorities decided on Friday to expel seven Muslim Brotherhood members who had earlier fled Egypt to Qatar, press reports said Saturday.
The Brotherhood members include Islamist preacher Wagdy Ghoneim and senior member of the Brotherhood’s now dissolved political wing, the Freedom and Justice Party (FJP), Amr Darrag.
In a short video placed on YouTube, Ghoneim said: “I have decided…to take proselytising outside the beloved Qatar so as not to cause my loved brothers in Qatar any embarrassment or problems.”
For his part, Darrag said in a statement on his Facebook page that members of the Brotherhood have been asked to leave the country.
“We understand very well the circumstances faced by the region,” he said in reference to the pressures Qatar has been facing to force Brotherhood members to leave the country.
Most Brotherhood members who were not arrested fled Egypt following the ouster of president Mohamed Morsi in July 2013.
“In order to avoid causing any embarrassment to the state of Qatar, which we found a very welcoming and a supportive host, some symbols of the Brotherhood and its political wing, FJP, who were asked by authorities to move their residence outside the state of Qatar, have now honoured that request,” he said.
Neither Ghoneim nor Darrag refer to the fact that they were ordered to leave the country.
