Saudi Ambassador to Egypt Ahmed al-Qattan said that the relationship between his country and ousted President Hosni Mubarak ended the day he gave up power on 11 February 2011, denying that the kingdom has offered to host Mubarak or offered him treatment in Tabuk.
Qattan told Al-Masry Al-Youm in a private interview that he had been recalled to Saudi Arabia for consultations. He said that peaceful demonstration is a right that was abused by Egyptian protesters who insulted the kingdom with provocative and obscene chants.
He said that Saudi Arabia “has refused the presence of the Muslim Brotherhood in the past because we do not see them as a religious movement. We do not have any political parties in the kingdom and their work is political with a religious cover.”
Qattan said that Saudi Arabia is impartial toward all strains of Islam. He said that Wahhabism and the fatwas regarding the promotion of virtue and the prevention of vice will not be applied outside the kingdom.
The Saudi ambassador said his country will not involve itself in Egypt’s presidential election, denying that it supports Amr Moussa for president. He said that the kingdom deals with regimes and not persons.
Edited translation from Al-Masry Al-Youm
