Turks hold 5 for Doha news agency hacking
DOHA, Aug 26, (Agencies): Qatar’s attorney general said Turkey has detained five suspects in connection with the hacking of Qatar’s state news agency in May.
The hacking helped precipitate the diplomatic rift that has since opened up between Qatar and some of its powerful Arab neighbors.
Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Bahrain and the United Arab Emirates severed ties with Qatar in June over comments briefly posted on the Qatar News Agency attributed to its ruler in which he allegedly praised their arch-foe Iran.
Qatar said Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad al-Thani did not make the statements and that hackers had posted a false story on QNA.
In comments published by QNA on Saturday, Qatar’s Attorney General Ali Bin Fetais al-Marri said the suspects were being interrogated, without specifying their nationalities or any other details.
“Our friends in Turkey answered us a short time ago. Five people were detained and they are being investigated. Qatari prosecutors are working with Turkish authorities to follow this case,” he was quoted as saying by Qatari media.
Marri has said Qatar has evidence that the hack was linked to countries that have severed ties with Doha for allegedly supporting Islamist militant groups and advancing the agenda of their arch-rival Iran in the region — charges Doha denies.
The dispute has defied mediation attempts by the United States and Kuwait.
Iran’s semi-official ISNA news agency is reporting that the Qatari ambassador to Iran is back on the job, ignoring the demands of Arab nations who are trying to isolate the energyrich country.
ISNA reported that Ambassador Ali Hamad Alsulaiti arrived in Tehran on Friday and began working Saturday morning.
Qatar pulled its ambassador to Iran in early 2016 in a show of solidarity after attacks on two Saudi Arabian diplomatic posts in Iran following the Saudi execution of a prominent Shiite cleric.
The diplomatic crisis began June 5, when Bahrain, Egypt, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates cut ties to Qatar alleging it was funding extremists and is too close to Iran.
Qatar and Iran share a massive offshore natural gas field that requires communication between the countries.
Qatar’s foreign ministry on Thursday said it was closing Chad’s embassy in Doha and ordered all staff to leave the emirate within three days.
The retaliatory move came just 24 hours after the central African state announced it was closing Qatar’s embassy in N’Djamena, accusing Doha of seeking to destabilise the country.
Qatar foreign ministry official Ahmed bin Saeed al-Rumaihi said in a statement the
had decided “to close the Embassy of the Republic of Chad in Doha and to give diplomats and embassy staff 72 hours to leave the country”.
Rumaihi added that Qatar rejected as “baseless” claims made by Chad on Wednesday.
Chad said it was expelling Qatar’s mission to “safeguard peace and stability in the region”, accusing the Middle Eastern state of “attempts at the destabilisation of Chad from Libya”.
Qatar’s diplomatic staff were given 10 days to leave.
Chad, Mauritania and Senegal all recalled their ambassadors from Qatar in June.
They acted after Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain and Egypt broke off diplomatic and trade ties with Qatar, accusing it of supporting Islamist extremists — a charge the tiny, gas-rich state denies.
Qatar has previously accused the Saudi-led bloc of putting pressure on African states to take sides in the row.