Manama: One of the top universities in Saudi Arabia has moved to sever all ties with officially designated terrorist groups, announcing a series of unprecedented measures.
In March, the Saudi interior ministry said in a statement that it classified the Muslim Brotherhood as well as Al Nusra Front and the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant — two jihadist groups fighting with the Syrian rebels — as terrorist groups.
In compliance with the designation, the Imam Mohammad Bin Saud Islamic University in the capital Riyadh has now ordered the removal of all books and publications by authors or researchers who belonged to any of the organisations classified by interior ministry as terrorist groups.
Under the university orders, all departments will have to remove the “banned” books from the curricula as well as from the libraries in all its colleges and institutes, Saudi news site Makkah reported on Thursday, citing “well-informed sources.”
The university will not hire anyone known to be a member of the groups or to have links with them while those already on the staff payroll will not have their contracts renewed, the report said.
No reference will be made to the books and research documents by the “extremists” unless the purpose is to criticise their views.
According to the sources, the university will not invite any member of the groups or anyone who advocates their ideology in any manner to its conferences, forums, discussions or dissertations.
The university is also banning its staff from participating in any forum or conference held or hosted by the groups or their affiliated centres in any country.
The participation and attendance ban is extended to gatherings in which members of the groups would conduct workshops or deliver speeches.
No research paper on any figure or media from the groups will be allowed by the university, unless the objective is to criticise their ideology, the report said.
The university said that it was “keen on the application of orders, regulations and rules as it participates in preserving the security and stability of the country.”
The Imam Mohammad Bin Saud Islamic University was established in Riyadh in an upgrade of the Sharia College set up in 1951.
It has 11 colleges, including five in Riyadh, and 62 institutes, two in Riyadh and 60 throughout the kingdom. It has six institutes abroad.
