Arab states to meet on Qatar today
cairo/abu dhabi — Saudi Arabia, Egypt, the UAE and Bahrain will meet in Manama on Saturday to discuss the latest developments on their boycott of Qatar, Egypt’s foreign ministry said on Friday.
The four Arab states cut ties with Qatar early last month, accusing it of backing terrorist groups, which Doha denies, and developing ties with Iran.
In the two-day meeting, the four countries will press Qatar to comply with their demands, which include stopping interference in their internal affairs, the Egyptian statement said.
The four Arab countries added 18 more groups and individuals they say are linked to Qatar to their terrorist lists last week.
Efforts led by Kuwait and Turkey and calls from the US administration have failed to ease what has become the worst rift between Arab states in years.
Meanwhile, Wam said a new documentary report released by UAE television channels has revealed new details about “Qatar’s plots against the UAE and the Gulf states”.
Citing audio and video confessions by Mahmoud Al Jaidah, who received a seven-year jail sentence for supporting the illegal Islamist group, Al Islah, the television report revealed that Doha passed on information to the group about operations to dismantle the network run by it.
According to the report, Qatar hosted several meetings to support Al Islah. It also played the role of a mediator and actively funded the group.
The documentary said it provided fugitives and members of the secret organisation accommodation in hotels in several Gulf countries. — Reuters, Wam
abu dhabi — A new documentary report released by state television channels on the so-called “secret terrorist organisation in the UAE” has revealed new details concerning “Qatar’s plots against the UAE and the Gulf states”.
Citing audio and video confessions by Mahmoud Al Jaidah, who received a seven-year jail sentence for supporting the illegal Islamist group, Al Islah, the television report revealed that Doha took advantage of the process to dissolve the secret organisation within the UAE.
According to the report, Qatar hosted several meetings to support Al Islah and acted as a mediator to facilitate the financing of terrorism, while providing fugitives and members of the secret organisation accommodation within its hotels.
The confessions also referred to the use of “agents” by Qatar to destroy the Gulf Cooperation Council structure and systems. The organisational fabric of the Qatari Muslim Brotherhood was also revealed via said testimonies.
The report referred to Qatar’s efforts to embrace terrorist organisations, like the Muslim Brotherhood, to play a larger regional role, while allowing these organisations to infiltrate into its state-run facilities and become key decision makers within Doha.
The admissions by Mahmoud Al Jaidah, who had been granted amnesty but quickly returned to attack the UAE on Qatar’s state television, was the most prominent aspect in revealing Qatar as the primary incubator of the Muslim Brotherhood and the country’s close association with it.
He affirmed that the Qatari government provided material and moral support to fugitive members of the organisation, as part of Doha’s series of conspiracies targeting the Gulf region in general and the UAE in particular.
Al Jaidah revealed that contact between Al Islah members began with Khalid Mohammed Abdullah Al Shaiba, who was convicted and sentenced to 10 years imprisonment for links to the Muslim Brotherhood and setting up a branch of the organisation in the UAE. Al Jaidah also revealed the names of a number of members including Issa Al Ansari, Mohammed Thani, Nasser Mohammed Issa, Ibrahim
His (Al Zaabi’s) links to terrorist organisations led to the dispersal of these funds to individuals who implemented terrorist operations.” Mahmoud Al Jaidah
Al Ibrahim, Abdulhamid Mahmoud and Khamis Al Mohannadi.
He pointed out that the organisation’s actions and movements are all being implemented under the watchful eyes and support of the Qatari government, as well as the support of organisations including, the Foundation Sheikh Thani Ibn Abdullah for Humanitarian Services, and Sheikh Eid bin Mohammad Al Thani Charitable Association.
The confessions show how terrorist organisations control the Qatari state, an embarrassment to Doha, which has long denied embracing Al Qaeda’s most prominent financiers, and members of the Muslim Brotherhood, especially following the collapse of the socalled Arab Spring in 2013.
The confessions detailed in the televised report also revealed Doha’s efforts to attract and recruit elements from GCC countries to carry out terrorist acts inside the UAE and outside the Arabian Gulf region in a malicious attempt to pin the charge of terrorism on the nationality of the perpetrators.
The report also refers to the nation’s firm response to Al Islah, the social arm of the terrorist group in the UAE, after proving that its structure was a cover for extremist ideas and attempts to overthrow the UAE leadership.
Al Jaidah also confessed to coming to the UAE to raise money under the guise of attending the Sharjah International Book Fair, at the request of Mohammed Saqr Al Zaabi.
The report said that “no one knows what Al Zaabi was doing with these funds... But it is certain that he currently resides in Britain and that his links to terrorist organisations led to the dispersal of these funds to individuals who implemented terrorist operations, including Saeed Nasser Al Taniji, a UAE-born resident of Istanbul.”
The report also sheds light on the transformation of Qatar over the past two decades into the “preferred” and “sole” mediator of the terrorist organisations. According to Al Jaidah, the release of individuals abducted by terrorist organisations as a result of Qatari negotiations was a guise designed to pump funds into these terrorist groups.
Tharwat Al Kharbawy, a Muslim Brotherhood defector, also appeared in the documentary and asserted that Qatar is considered the leading financier of the terrorist organisation since 1995.
Al Kharbawy said that Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani ordered the group to educate his children, especially the current Amir of Qatar on the fundamental principles of the organisation and its teachings, including those of Yusuf Al Qaradawi, designated as a terrorist. — Wam