Arab nation yesterday put 12 organizations and 59 people they described as being associated with Qatar on a terror sanctions list amid a diplomatic dispute that has seen the energy-rich nation isolated by Saudi Arabia and others.
Qatar dismissed the terror listing as part of “baseless allegations that hold no foundation in fact,” standing by earlier statements by its top diplomat that Arab nations had no “right to blockade my country.”
The list further tightens the screws on Qatar, home to a major US military base and the host of the 2022 FIFA World Cup, and shows the crisis only escalating, despite Kuwaiti efforts to mediate an end to the rift.
Photo: EPA
Bahrain, Egypt, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates said they sanctioned the groups and individuals because of “the continuous and ongoing violations of the authorities in Doha of Qatar’s commitments and obligations.”
Six of the organizations are already considered militant groups in Bahrain, a Sunni-ruled, predominantly Shiite island home to the US Navy’s 5th Fleet and an under-construction British naval base.
Bahrain has been gripped by a government crackdown on dissent for more than a year now.
Among the individuals named was Youssef al-Qaradawi, an Egyptian-born cleric considered a spiritual leader of the Muslim Brotherhood, a Sunni group.
Al-Qaradawi has been tried and sentenced to death in absentia in Egypt since the 2013 military overthrow of then-Egyptian president Mohammed Morsi, a Muslim Brotherhood member.
Other names involving Egypt include more Muslim Brotherhood members and those once belonging to Gamaa Islamiya, a group that carried out a series of bloody attacks in Egypt in the 1990s before renouncing violence in the 2000s.
One is the brother of the Gamaa Isalmiya assassin who killed then-Egyptian president Anwar Sadat in 1981.
Egypt separately has asked the UN Security Council to investigate reports that Qatar “paid up to [US]$1 billion to a terrorist group active in Iraq” to recently free 26 hostages, including members of its ruling family, saying it would violate UN sanctions.
Names involving Libya include militia commanders and the Benghazi Defense Brigade, which is battling forces commanded by General Khalifa Haftar, who has the backing of Egypt and the UAE.
The sole Yemeni, Abdel-Wahab al-Humayqani, is the leader of a Salafi party that has been accused by the US of financing al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, the terror group’s branch in Yemen.
Qatar long has denied supporting or funding terror groups.
However, Western diplomats accuse Qatar’s government of allowing or even encouraging the funding of some Sunni militants, like al-Qaeda’s branch in Syria.
Responding to the list overnight, Qatar issued a statement saying: “We do not, have not and will not support terrorist groups.”
“We lead the region in attacking the roots of terrorism — by giving young people hope through jobs, replacing weapons with pens by educating hundreds of thousands of Syrian refugees and funding local community programs globally to challenge extremist agendas.”
In an interview on Thursday, Qatari Minister of Foreign Affairs Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani repeatedly denied that his country funded terrorists and he rejected the idea of shutting down its al-Jazeera satellite news network, something suggested as a demand of the Arab nations.
He said Qatar, as an independent nation, also had the right to support groups like the Muslim Brotherhood, despite the fact that its neighbors view it as a threat to their hereditary rule.
Sheikh Mohammed’s stance mirrored that of a top Emirati diplomat who told reporters on Wednesday that the UAE believes “there’s nothing to negotiate” with Qatar.
“If anyone thinks they are going to impose anything on my internal affairs or my internal issues, this is not going to happen,” Sheikh Mohammed said.
Worried residents have responded to the crisis by emptying grocery stores in the capital of Doha, while Saudi Arabia has blocked trucks carrying food from entering the country across its only land border.
Doha is a major international travel hub, but flagship carrier Qatar Airways now flies increasingly over Iran and Turkey after being blocked elsewhere in the Middle East.
On Wednesday, Emirati officials shut down the airline’s offices in the UAE.
Al-Jazeera’s offices have been shut down by authorities in Saudi Arabia and Jordan.
The network said on Thursday that its Web sites had come under a sustained cyberattack.
US President Donald Trump, who on Tuesday tweeted about Qatar funding extremists, called Qatari Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani on Wednesday and offered to host leaders at the White House to resolve the crisis.
However, Sheikh Mohammed told reporters on Thursday that Sheikh Tamim “is not going to leave the country while the country is in blockade.”
Analysts have raised the prospect of a palace coup in Qatar, a hereditary monarchy ruled by the Al Thani family that has a history of such changes in leadership.
Trump’s administration later suggested US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, who as Exxon Mobil’s chief executive officer had business with Qatar, as a possible mediator.
Republican US lawmakers on Friday criticized US President Joe Biden’s administration after sanctioned Chinese telecoms equipment giant Huawei unveiled a laptop this week powered by an Intel artificial intelligence (AI) chip. The US placed Huawei on a trade restriction list in 2019 for contravening Iran sanctions, part of a broader effort to hobble Beijing’s technological advances. Placement on the list means the company’s suppliers have to seek a special, difficult-to-obtain license before shipping to it. One such license, issued by then-US president Donald Trump’s administration, has allowed Intel to ship central processors to Huawei for use in laptops since 2020. China hardliners
Conjoined twins Lori and George Schappell, who pursued separate careers, interests and relationships during lives that defied medical expectations, died this month in Pennsylvania, funeral home officials said. They were 62. The twins, listed by Guinness World Records as the oldest living conjoined twins, died on April 7 at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania, obituaries posted by Leibensperger Funeral Homes of Hamburg said. The cause of death was not detailed. “When we were born, the doctors didn’t think we’d make 30, but we proved them wrong,” Lori said in an interview when they turned 50, the Philadelphia Inquirer reported. The
RAMPAGE: A Palestinian man was left dead after dozens of Israeli settlers searching for a missing 14-year-old boy stormed a village in the Israeli-occupied West Bank US President Joe Biden on Friday said he expected Iran to attack Israel “sooner, rather than later” and warned Tehran not to proceed. Asked by reporters about his message to Iran, Biden simply said: “Don’t,” underscoring Washington’s commitment to defend Israel. “We are devoted to the defense of Israel. We will support Israel. We will help defend Israel and Iran will not succeed,” he said. Biden said he would not divulge secure information, but said his expectation was that an attack could come “sooner, rather than later.” Israel braced on Friday for an attack by Iran or its proxies as warnings grew of
A prominent Christian leader has allegedly been stabbed at the altar during a Mass yesterday in southwest Sydney. Bishop Mar Mari Emmanuel was saying Mass at Christ The Good Shepherd Church in Wakeley just after 7pm when a man approached him at the altar and allegedly stabbed toward his head multiple times. A live stream of the Mass shows the congregation swarm forward toward Emmanuel before it was cut off. The church leader gained prominence during the COVID-19 pandemic, amassing a large online following, Officers attached to Fairfield City police area command attended a location on Welcome Street, Wakeley following reports a number