Qatar expelled several exiled Muslim Brotherhood leaders on Saturday after regional pressure compelled the Qatari government to distance itself from the Islamist group.

Qatar has been hosting the Egyptian Brotherhood's leaders and allied clerics since the overthrow of Mohamed Morsi's government in July 2013.

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On Saturday, an official within the organization announced that Qatar has asked some of the Brotherhood's prominent members to leave Doha within the week.  

The expulsion includes members of the Brotherhood's banned political wing, the Freedom and Justice Party, the Brotherhood's secretary general Mahmoud Hussein, former cabinet member Amr Darrag and extremist cleric Wagdy Ghoneim.

In a statement, Darrag thanked Qatar for its support of the Egyptian people in their revolt against the military junta and honored the request to leave to "avoid causing any embarrassment" to the state.

Ghoneim confirmed his departure from Qatar in a separate statement but insisted he is doing so on his own volition, reported The New York Times.

The Egyptian interior minister, Mohammed Ibrahim, confirmed the order for deportation at a news conference on Sunday where he told reporters of the order for Brotherhood members to leave the country within a month, reported the World Tribune.  

After the Arab uprisings in 2011, Qatar sought to expand its influence in the region by spreading the Islamic extremist ideologies of groups like the Muslim Brotherhood. Qatar has provided a safe haven for the groups' members who fled Egypt following Morsi's overthrow last year.

However, this has brought Qatar into conflict with neighboring powers like the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia and the present Egyptian regime --- all of whom consider the Brotherhood as a major terrorist threat to their governments.

The decision to deport the Muslim Brotherhood members follows a mounting pressure to enforce the Riyadh Agreement, the deal signed by Gulf leaders that bans terrorist activities in the region. The pact effectively outlawed the Brotherhood and its affiliates, reported Western Journalism.

In recent months, the UAE, Saudi Arabia and Egypt pulled out their diplomats from Doha and have again pressured Qatar to withdraw its support of the outlawed group when high-level Saudi officials visited Qatar last month, according to The New York Times.

TagsMuslim Brotherhood, Qatar, Egypt, Mohamed Morsi