Muslim Brotherhood Members Leaving Qatar as ISIS Struggle Heats Up

Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood officials leaving Qatar are doing so of their own accord, a Qatari diplomat said, denying that the Gulf emirate has expelled the Islamists.

Qatar didn’t ask the officials to leave, said the diplomat, speaking on condition of anonymity in accordance with government rules.

Amr Darrag, an official from the Freedom and Justice Party, the Brotherhood’s political wing, said on Twitter he understood the reason that prompted Qatar to ask some “members of the Muslim Brotherhood and the Freedom and Justice Party to leave.” Turkey’s Anatolia news agency said seven of them were given one week to leave.

Qatar’s backing of the Brotherhood has strained relations with neighboring Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates. Darrag served as planning minister under former Egyptian President Mohamed Mursi, who was toppled last year by the military and is now on trial. Saudi Arabia and the U.A.E. are providing economic assistance to the government of Abdel Fattah El-Sisi, the former army chief who was elected president in May.