Ras Al Khaimah’s ruler has issued a stark warning to hardliners calling them “malignant” and urging them to “mind their own business.”
In what appeared to be comments aimed the Muslim Brotherhood and the Egyptian Salafist group, HH Sheikh Saud Bin Saqr Al Qasimi said anyone who does not like the UAE should leave.
“We hear that there are some who are trying to tamper with the stability of the UAE. I would like to say to them: ‘The people of the UAE don’t need lessons from anyone. They are confident in themselves and in the solidarity that they share. They don’t change.
“Their character is not artificial and the country’s principles are deeply-rooted’,” he said in comments published by state news agency WAM.
“I would like to advise those who poke their noses into the UAE’s internal affairs to mind their own business,” he added.
UAE leaders, said Sheikh Saud, had made a vow to ensure people with “malignant ideas” would not be permitted to harm the country.
“The people of the UAE have provided other people with opportunities and offer an illustrious model of peaceful co-existence for those who do not compromise on their faithfulness and loyalty to the country,” he said.
“He who does not like this should leave for another place. Any treachery is shame for him, and for his country.”
Sheikh Saud’s comments follow just weeks after Sharjah’s ruler, Sheikh Dr Sultan bin Mohammed Al Qasimi, urged Emiratis not to fall prey to “the foreign agenda”.
The UAE, which has avoided pro-democracy protests that shook the Arab world last year, is wary of the rise of the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt.
Dubai police chief Lieutenant General Dahi Khalfan last month accused supporters of the Muslim Brotherhood in the UAE of using social media to stir up oppositions to the Gulf state’s ruling family.
“Tweets by the Muslim Brothers have political goals,” he said. “They belittle the symbols of the state and question the integrity of the judiciary… they want to stir the streets against us.”
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