Qatar emir ‘jailed 20 relatives’ for dissent

The emir of Qatar sentenced 20 of his relatives from a branch of Al Thani family to jail over their support for a boycott of Doha, according to a French magazine.

Businessman Jean-Pierre Marongiu, who lives in Qatar and heads the board of a French company, told Le Point magazine that he had met the relatives in a Qatari prison where he has been in jail for the past four years over allegations of issuing bad cheques.

“About 20 people. In my block, there are six,” he said, referring to the number of prisoners who are members of the Qatari royal family.

The prisoner gave the names of four of the Al Thani members in prison but would not mention the names of all 20 “for fear of reprisal”. The named sheikhs all came from the Bin Ali side of the family.

They are all relatives of the former ruler of Qatar, Ahmed bin Ali Al Thani, who was overthrown in a bloodless coup in 1972 by Sheikh Khalifa bin Hamad, the present ruler’s grandfather.

Just weeks before this year’s Hajj, another member of the Bin Ali family branch began gaining favour in Saudi Arabia.

The kingdom, along with Egypt, the UAE and Bahrain has cut diplomatic, trade and travel connections with Qatar over its support of terrorist groups.

Qatar’s Sheikh Abdullah Al Thani and Saudi Arabia’s crown prince, Mohammed bin Salman, held discussions in August that were widely seen as the reason behind Saudi Arabia allowing Qatari pilgrims into the kingdom despite the boycott.

Since then, Sheikh Abdullah became a frequent guest of the Saudi royal court, quickly elevating his status as an integral figure in the threemonth-old crisis.

According to the French businessman, some of the members of the Bin Ali side of the royal family were already imprisoned before the quartet of countries severed their diplomatic relations with Qatar.

Since June 5, however, arrests have multiplied.