US officials to work with Qatar prosecutor

Move follows signing of agreement during Tillerson’s visit this month to fight the financing of terrorism

The United States will post officials at the Qatari state prosecutor’s office as part of a Qatari-US agreement signed this month to fight the financing of terrorism, people familiar with the matter said.

US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson reached the deal with Qatar during a round of shuttle diplomacy aimed at ending a diplomatic crisis in the Gulf. The agreement has not been approved by the four US-allied Arab states.

Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, the United Arab Emirates and Egypt cut diplomatic and commercial ties with Qatar last month over its support for terrorism.

No details about the contents of the agreement signed by Tillerson and his Qatari counterpart, Shaikh Mohammad Bin Abdul Rahman Al Thani, have been released.

But a western official in the Gulf who has seen the document said it specifies actions Qatar will take by the end of the year, including placing two US Department of Justice officials in Qatar’s general prosecution. “They will work hand in hand with Qatar to charge individuals accused of financing terrorists,” said the official, who declined to be named because of the sensitivity of the matter.

Other actions in the agreement include imposing travel bans, enforcing surveillance, and freezing the assets of individuals with suspected links to terrorism.

The accord points to internationally agreed definitions of terrorism without specifying particular groups.

A Qatari official said that the country’s general prosecutor would be working with US officials but that the terms of the cooperation had not been finalised.