UAE denies Qatari exiled Sheikh claim
JEDDAH: The UAE denied Sunday claims that a prominent member of the Qatari royal family has been held in the country against his will.
An official source at the UAE’s Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation said that Qatari Sheikh Abdullah bin Ali Al-Thani was a guest of the UAE at his request and was given the due hospitality and care after he resorted to the state as a result of restrictions imposed by the Qatari government against him, the UAE’s WAM news agency reported on Sunday.
The ministry also confirmed that “Sheikh Abdullah was received with generosity and he is free in his movements and expressed his desire to leave the country where all procedures were facilitated without any interference hindering this procedure.”
Sheikh Abdullah earlier appeared in a viral video aired by Doha-based news network Al Jazeera saying that he was invited by Abu Dhabi Sheikh Mohammed, who later held him against his own will.
“I am a guest of Sheikh Mohammed but it is not hosting now, it is now an imprisonment,” Sheikh Abdullah says. “They told me not to leave and I am afraid something will happen to me and they blame Qatar.”
He adds: “I just wanted to let you know that Qatar is innocent in this and I am being hosted by Sheikh Mohammed and anything that happens to me after this is under his responsibility.”
The ministry source expressed regret over the allegations that accompanied Sheikh Abdullah’s request to leave the UAE, stressing that these “practices and allegations have become a continuous approach to the State of Qatar in its management of the crisis.”
Earlier, Al Thani took a step toward a peace process with Saudi Arabia and the UAE and called on the Qatari people to reconcile with the Gulf house, where he has held high-profile meetings with Saudi King Salman and Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.
Soon after those meetings, Saudi Arabia announced that all Qatari pilgrims are allowed over the border for the Hajj pilgrimage, contrary to Qatari claims of a ban on its citizens.