Qatar, a key U.S. ally, faces new accusations of funding terrorism
Qatar, a key U.S. ally in the Persian Gulf, is facing increased scrutiny over its alleged financial ties to terrorism in a lawsuit from relatives of a slain American journalist and a separate federal investigation into a member of the country’s royal family.
The family of Steven Sotloff alleged in a federal lawsuit Friday that prominent Qatari institutions wired $800,000 to an Islamic State “judge” who ordered the murder of Sotloff and another American journalist, James Foley. The two were beheaded in Syria in 2014, their killings filmed and published in grisly propaganda videos.
“We want to do everything we can to make sure no other family has to suffer what we have suffered,” the Sotloff family said in a statement explainingtheir lawsuit.
Separately, federal prosecutors have been investigating potential ties between terror groups and Khalid bin Hamad Al-Thani, the halfbrother of Qatar’s ruling emir, according to documents reviewed by The Associated Press and interviews with two people familiar with the investigation.
A grand jury investigation, run out of the Southern District of New York, has focused in part on whether Khalid Al Thani provided money and supplies to Al Nusra, al-Qaeda’s branch in Syria, said the two people. They spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the matter publicly.
Qatar has enjoyed a strong relationship with the Biden administration. The world’s wealthiest country per capita played a key role in evacuations from Afghanistan and its huge supplies of natural gas could help sustain Europe’s energy markets amid Russia’s war in Ukraine. Qatar could also play a critical role in President Joe Biden’s bid to revive anuclear deal with Iran.
The Qatari Embassy said it needed more information before it could comment about the reported investigation, and did not immediately comment on the lawsuit.
Earlierthis year, Mr. Biden designatedQatar a major nonNATO ally, a move that could be helpful in the country’s bid to get U.S. approval for a more than $500 million sale of MQ-9 Reaper drones. Qatar is home to the largest U.S. Air Force basein the Gulf.
“Qatar is a good friend and a reliable partner,” Mr. Biden said in January while hosting Qatar’s ruling emir, Tamim bin Hamad AlThani, at the White House.
But Qatar, which was one of the strongest international backers of the rebellion against Syrian President Bashar Assad, has long
faced criticism from some U.S. officials for allowing or encouraging funding of extremists groups in Syria, as well as for its direct and indirect support of the Muslim Brotherhood and Hamas.
Qatar has said it condemns terrorism, but officials have also conceded its
efforts may have helped the wrong people.
“Look, in Syria, everybodydid mistakes, including your country,” Hamad bin Jassim Al-Thani, Qatar’s former prime minister and foreign minister, said in a 2017 interview with American journalist Charlie Rose.