Qatar PM seen with terrorist at wedding

Riyadh : The Qatari government admitted in a statement released on Saturday that their Prime Minister Sheikh Abdullah bin Nasser bin Khalifa al-Thani did in fact attend the wedding of terrorist financier Abdulrahman al-Nuaimi’s son, affirming that there is “no hypocrisy at work.”

They added that he was “personally” invited by the groom, whom they described as “a government employee of the state of Qatar, and an upstanding young man.”

An Al Arabiya recent expose on Qatar’s open relationship between government officials and known terrorist financiers, some of whom are on Doha’s on terror sponsor list, has shed light on the country’s lack of seriousness on addressing its ties and support of extremists groups.

Last week, Al Arabiya reported that know terrorist financier Abdulrahman al-Nuaimi had been living out in the open despite having just been designated as a terrorist by his own country a month earlier.

“There is no hypocrisy at work here. The prime minister will continue to support the good work of his employees,” the government communications office added in the statement.

In a new claim, the Qatari government said that prosecutors were “building a new case” against al- Nuaimi whom they added roams free “due to lack of evidence.”

However, in March, and after significant international pressure, Qatar itself included Al-Nuaimi in their terrorist list, five years after he was first designated by the US as a supporter of terrorism, and a longtime after the United Nations Security Council and its GCC neighbours did so as well.

In the statement, the Qatari government claimed that “the Emir of Qatar has no authority to unilaterally jail an individual.”

International experts said that the Qatari statement reaffirms the questioning of the credibility of Doha’s government over its support of terrorism.

Last year Trump denounced that Qatar is a “funder of terror”, after Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Egypt and Bahrain severed diplomatic and trade links with Qatar in June of 2017 for its support of terrorist activities and groups in the region.

Following further assurances made by Tamim bin Hamad al-Thani, the Qatari Emir, during a visit to the White House on April 9, Trump welcomed the Emir’s pledge to combat terrorist
financing.

Sheikh Abdullah’s attendance of the terrorist financier’s son’s wedding came just two days after this pledge.

“It throws into doubt Qatar’s claims to be taking a zero-tolerance approach to terror financiers as it attempts to end a blockade by neighbouring states that accuse the country of supporting terrorist groups across the region and of being too close to Iran,” prominent UK newspaper The Telegraph wrote.

The Telegraph confirmed the information first exposed by Al Arabiya.net which revealed that the prime minister was photographed in the event only a few weeks after his government designated Nuaimi as a financier of terrorism.

The report pushed many terrorism experts and former US officials to call the White House and the international community to make Doha accountable for its double-sided policy.