Cairo pursues own agenda in isolating Qatar

AS SAUDI Arabia continues to make demands on Qatar, which the latter has stated are not only unreasonable but undoable, Egypt has joined in the chorus of those Gulf Co-operation Council countries, siding with Saudi Arabia which states that the Muslim Brotherhood is a terrorist organisation.

One of the Saudi demands is that Qatar break ties with groups it considers terrorist organisations, including Gaza-based Hamas and the Muslim Brotherhood, in addition to several others. On Monday, Egypt called on Interpol to arrest fugitive members of the Muslim Brotherhood, which is banned in Egypt, who are residing in Qatar and Turkey.

A security source said Cairo had sent Interpol a list of fugitives wanted in Egypt for criminal investigations or who have been convicted in criminal cases.

Egypt’s Daily Ahram newspaper reported the list included the spiritual leader of the Brotherhood, Youssef El Qaradawi, Islamist preacher Wagdi Ghonem, former investment minister Yehia Hamed, former prime minister Hesham Qandil, leading Gamaa Al Islamiya figure Tarek El-Zomor, Al Jazeera presenter Ahmed Mansour and Brotherhood youth figure Ahmed El-Moghier. The list also includes Al Jazeera political analysts Mohamed El-Gawadi and Mohamed El Qudoussi, journalists Wael Kandil, Alaa Sadeq, Ramy Jan and Selim Azouz, as well as Muslim Brotherhood leader Ayman Abdel Ghani, who Cairo says is the mastermind behind the Kataeb Helwan militant group in Cairo.

One of the Saudi demands was also that Qatar close down Al Jazeera, based in Doha, claiming the international broadcaster was giving favourable coverage to groups the Saudis regard as undesirable.

Al Jazeera journalist Mahmoud Hussein has been in detention in Egypt since December on charges of “incitement against state institutions and broadcasting false news with the aim of spreading chaos”.

Since 2014, Egypt has repeatedly called for the arrest of fugitive Muslim Brotherhood members being sheltered in Turkey and Qatar.