UAE is keeping me captive, says Qatari sheikh

A CONTROVERSIAL member of Qatar’s royal family claimed he was being held against his will in the UAE yesterday, eight months into a crisis between the Gulf states.

Sheikh Abdullah bin Ali Al-thani, a little-known member of the royal family, emerged as a key figure in the dispute between the Gulf states in the weeks after Riyadh and Abu Dhabi cut ties with Doha. A video circulating online, also broadcast by Qatar-based Aljazeera television, shows the sheikh seated in an armchair warning that he was “afraid something could happen to me that will be blamed on Qatar”.

“I am now in Abu Dhabi, where I was a guest of [UAE crown prince] Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed al-nahyan,” said Sheikh Abdullah. “That is no longer the case. I am now detained,” he said. “I want to make clear that the people of Qatar are innocent. Sheikh Mohammed bears full responsibility for anything that happens to me.”

Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Egypt and Bahrain severed diplomatic and trade ties with Qatar in June over allegations Doha supported Islamist extremists and had close ties to Iran.