Initial investigations have revealed their links with the foreign organisation through audio recordings and electronic messages, sources told local daily Okaz.
“The investigations are ongoing and they should be over by the middle of next month,” said the sources that the newspaper described as “well informed”.
Seven of the suspects are “nationals from a neighbouring country” and the other two are Saudi citizens, the daily said on Monday.
“They will be most certainly sentenced to prison terms and financial fines,” the sources added. “The non-Saudis will be deported without the possibility of returning to the kingdom while the Saudis will be jailed for ten to 15 years.”
Saudi Arabia on March 7 blacklisted the Muslim Brotherhood as a terrorist organisation, along with the kingdom’s branch of Hezbollah and Syria-based jihadist groups the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (Isil) and Al Qaida-linked Al Nusra Front.
The country’s officials said they were determined to confront extremism under all its forms and not to allow mosques to be used for partisan calls while the religious authorities warned of a zero-tolerance policy towards people who did not comply with the regulations on sermons and contacts with banned groups.
According to the Saudi ban, those who join or support the groups could face up to 20 years in prison.
Two weeks ago, Saudi Arabia sacked “for life” three Friday preachers, banning them from delivering sermons or speeches at mosques or in religious camps.
The decision was taken after the authorities ascertained they belonged to the Muslim Brotherhood and had direct contacts with the movement in some Arab countries.
Reports in Saudi Arabia said that 76 imams (prayer leaders), religious figures and lecturers are being monitored for suspected Brotherhood-linked activities.
