DUBAI: Qatar said on Saturday a decision by Egypt to designate the Muslim Brotherhood a terrorist group was “a prelude to a shoot-to-kill policy” against demonstrators.

Qatar was a firm supporter of Egypt’s former President Muhammad Mursi and ties with Cairo have deteriorated since the army deposed him in July following mass protests against his year-long rule.

Egypt accuses Qatar and its Doha-based Al Jazeera television channel of backing the Muslim Brotherhood, which it declared a terrorist organization on Dec. 25. Thousands of its members have been arrested.

“It was only a prelude to a shoot-to-kill policy on demonstrators,” the statement published by state news agency QNA said. It said that “inclusive dialogue” between all sides was the only solution to Egypt’s crisis.

In an interview with Egypt’s newspaper Al-Masry Al-Youm in November, Foreign Minister Nabil Fahmi said Al Jazeera was one of the reasons for worsening ties between the two states.

“There must be a stance taken with regard to any interference in Egypt’s internal affairs, not forgiving those who overstep its rights,” he said when asked if Cairo might sanction Doha as it did Ankara last year.

Meanwhile, Egypt’s Foreign Ministry said it summoned Qatar’s ambassador on Saturday to protest Doha’s criticism of the military-installed government’s crackdown on the Muslim Brotherhood.

“The Qatari ambassador was summoned over a statement by the Qatari Foreign Ministry,” Foreign Ministry spokesman Badr Abdelatty told AFP.

Qatar said it was “concerned by the increase in casualties from the crackdown on protests.” It also criticized Egypt’s labeling the Brotherhood last month as a terrorist group, which tightened the screws on the beleaguered movement.

Egypt has called on Arab states to respect a 1998 counter-terrorism treaty and hand over radical activists wanted for trial.

One of them is Sheikh Yousuf Qardawi, a prominent Egyptian-born cleric based in Doha.

Qardawi faces trial with Mursi and 129 other suspects accused of involvement in jailbreaks and attacks on police stations during the early 2011 uprising that toppled strongman Hosni Mubarak.

He rose to prominence through his show on Al-Jazeera, which Egypt accuses of biased coverage of the Brotherhood.

The broadcaster’s Cairo bureau chief, Mohammed Fahmy, Australian journalist Peter Greste and producer Baher Mohamed were detained following their arrest last week in a Cairo hotel. Fahmy has been accused of membership in the “terrorist” Brotherhood, a charge his family denies.