Qatar blacklists Gulf nations’ ‘terrorists’ after being shut out

QATAR has blacklisted 20 people and eight organisations as “terrorist,” nine months after finding itself isolated in the Gulf over alleged support for Islamist extremists and sympathisers.

Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Bahrain and Egypt imposed travel, diplomatic and trade sanctions on Qatar in June 2017, accusing it of financing terrorism, meddling in the affairs of Arab states and cosying up to Iran.

Qatar has denied the allegations and says the Saudi-led bloc aims to incite regime change in the emirate, the world’s richest country per capita.

The list, published by the interior ministry this week, includes 12 Qatari nationals, two Saudi Arabians, four Egyptians and two Jordanians.

Saudi Arabia and its allies, which have called themselves the “Anti-terror Quartet”, months ago unveiled a list of 90 organisations and individuals in Qatar accused of ties to Islamist groups.

The Qatari list overlaps significantly with that list. Among the names is Abdulrahman al-nuaimi, a Qatari who in 2013 landed on the US list of Specially Designated Global Terrorists for “providing financial support” to al-qaeda and its affiliates across Syria, Iraq, Yemen and Somalia. It also includes the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (Isil) branch in Egypt’s Sinai peninsula.

The decision to publish the list received a lukewarm welcome from the UAE, which along with its allies has banned all Qataris from its territory.

“Pride aside, Qatar is confirming evidence against it and confirming that its support for extremism and terrorism is at the heart of the crisis,” tweeted Anwar Gargash, UAE state minister for foreign affairs.