Al Qaeda in Qatar, Why Doha is Accommodating the Terrorist Group?

[Shah9]

This thread will be about the mass supporter of terrorism namely Qatar who funds all kind involving terrorism from Somalia, Mali, Libya, Iraq, Chechyna, Egypt, Afghanistan and Syria. It is well documented and reported.

On Sunday, WikiLeaks revealed a State Department cable last December that labeled Qatar, the tiny, oil-rich Gulf nation, as the Middle East's "worst" participant in counterterrorism efforts, the New York Times reports. According to the cable, Qatari security was "hesitant to act against known terrorists out of concern for appearing to be aligned with the U.S. and provoking reprisals."

Another cable from December 2009 stressed increased counterterrorism efforts as a talking point for the Emir's January 2010 visit.

The details offered in these cables are particularly strange when compared with a 2008 Congressional Research Service report for Congress.

The U.S. State Department called Qatar's terrorism support since 9/11 "significant," according to the CRS report. Since the attacks, Qatar established both a Combating Terrorism Law and the Qatar Authority for Charitable Activities (QACA) in March of 2004. The QACA was meant to monitor the operations of all Qatari charity organizations and ostensibly make sure the charities weren't funneling cash to terrorist organizations. But there was an asterisk: The Emir could stop the QACA from overseeing a particular organization's activities whenever he wants.

"U.S. concerns regarding alleged material support for terrorist groups by some Qataris, including members of the royal family, have been balanced over time by Qatar's counterterrorism and efforts and its broader, long-term commitment to host and support U.S. military forces being used in ongoing operations in Iraq, Afghanistan and the global war on terrorism," wrote Christopher M. Blanchard, the Middle East affairs analyst who authored the CRS report.

So what changed between 2008 and 2009?

Probably not much. The discrepancy in rhetoric is likely more an issue of what the United States is willing to say in public, and in private.

"Keeping U.S. basing rights in Qatar and ensuring the stable flow of oil and LNG gas [liquefied natural gas] are both more important than Qatar's willingness to deal seriously with its citizens involvement in terrorism," says Toby Jones, an assistant Middle East history professor at Rutgers University. "The cost of [the United States] pressuring them publicly to take counterterrorism seriously, it seems, might come at too high an economic cost."

But U.S. officials may have reason to be suspicious of Qatar. Members of the royal family reportedly hosted Khalid Shaikh Mohammed, the 9/11 mastermind, in the late '90s and may have helped him evade U.S. capture. In 2005, officials discovered another link between Qatar and al Qaeda: Qatar paid al Qaeda (and some speculate it may still be paying) millions of dollars each year so al Qaeda wouldn't attack it. Qatar struck the deal before the 2003 Iraq invasion and renewed it in March of 2005, when an Egyptian suicide bomber attacked a theater in Doha. Many believed the bomber was part of al Qaeda. "We're not sure that the attack was carried out by al Qaeda, but we ratified our agreement just to be on the safe side," a Qatari official said at the time. "We are a soft target and prefer to pay to secure our national and economical interests. We are not the only ones doing so."

It's true: Qatar is one of many nations that have allegedly funded Islamic movements to save their own citizens, and that funding was another topic of discussion slated for last January's meeting. "Officials should make known USG concerns about the financial support to Hamas by Qatari charitable organizations and our concerns about the moral support Hamas receives from Yousef Al-Qaradawi," the December, 2009 cable said. "It is also essential to stress that high-level Qatari political support is needed, if financial flows to terrorists are to stop."

But in a region rife with secret terrorist ties and illicit deals, it may seem strange that the only nation to host a U.S. military base could earn the dubious-least-valuable player title.

Yet America's chummy relationship with Qatar is a key reason for Doha's hesitancy to comply with every U.S. demand and its apparent eagerness to appease threatening countries and organizations. That relationship is, partly, what makes Qatar such a ready target.

Because it hosts the Al Udeid airbase and Camp As Sayliyah, a pre-positioning facility of U.S. military equipment, Qatar is at greater risk of terrorist attacks than neighboring countries, whose ties to the U.S. are less tangible. Notably, Qatar pays for the upkeep of the American military bases in its borders; the U.S. pays no rent, and no utilities.

So while countries like Saudi Arabia and the emirate of Abu Dhabi have aligned themselves strongly with the U.S. counterterrorism strategy because they rely somewhat on U.S. power and protection, Qatar has no such dependence. "[Qatar isn't] fully behind the United States in the same way that Abu Dhabi clearly is," explains Dr. Christopher Davidson, a United Nations and Middle East Policy Council expert on the Gulf monarchies, and a professor at Durham University in England. "This explains why there's been some criticism of Qatar not being tight enough on counterterrorism. "

Beyond Qatar's alleged funding of al Qaeda and its ties to Hamas and Iran, it has also tried to bolster its reputation by allowing money to flow freely through the country, no questions asked. Implementing more scrutiny would likely anger terrorist groups and put Qatar at greater risk.

"If the funding is cut, or if the Qatari authorities listen to America and try to tighten things up so money can't flow as easily, then you have the real risk of jihad coming home to Qatar," Davidson explains. "The smaller Gulf states have never really faced a stage of serious terror attacks like Saudi Arabia has, but they all certainly live in fear of that."

Qatar: "Worst" on Counterterroism in the Middle East? - Elizabeth Weingarten - The Atlantic

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[Shah9]

Is Qatar fuelling the crisis in north Mali?​

Oil-rich gulf state Qatar has a vested interest in the outcome of the north Mali crisis, according to various reports that have been picked up by French MPs, amid suspicion that Doha may be siding with the rebels to extend its regional influence.

Since Islamist groups exploited a military coup in the Malian capital of Bamako in early 2012 to take control of the entire north of the country, accusations of Qatari involvement in a crisis that has seen France deploy troops have been growing.

Last week two French politicians explicitly accused Qatar of giving material support to separatists and Islamists in north Mali, adding fuel to speculation that the Emirate is playing a behind-the-scenes role in spreading Islamic fundamentalism in Africa.

French far-right leader Marine Le Pen and Communist Party Senator Michelle Demessine both said that that Qatar had questions to answer.

“If Qatar is objecting to France’s engagement in Mali it’s because intervention risks destroying Doha’s most fundamentalist allies,” Le Pen said in a statement on her party website, in response to a call by Qatari Prime Minister Sheikh Hamad bin Jassim al-Thani for dialogue with the Islamists.
‘Cash from Doha’

The first accusations of Qatari involvement with Tuareg separatists and Islamist groups came in a June 2012 article in respected French weekly the Canard Enchainé.

In a piece title “Our friend Qatar is financing Mali’s Islamists”, the newspaper alleged that the oil-rich Gulf state was financing the separatists.

It quoted an unnamed source in French military intelligence saying: “The MNLA [secular Tuareg separatists], al Qaeda-linked Ansar Dine and MUJAO [movement for unity and Jihad in West Africa] have all received cash from Doha.”

The presence of Qatari NGOs in north Mali is no secret. Last summer, in the wake of the separatist takeover, the Qatari Red Crescent was the only humanitarian organisation granted access to the vast territory.

One member of the Qatari humanitarian team told AFP at the end of June that they had simply “come to Gao to evaluate the humanitarian needs of the region in terms of water and electricity access.”

Deeply entrenched
Regional geopolitical expert Mehdi Lazar, who specialises on Qatar, wrote in French weekly news magazine L’Express in December that Doha’s relationship with predominantly Muslim north Mali was deeply entrenched.

“Qatar has an established a network of institutions it funds in Mali, including madrassas, schools and charities that it has been funding from the 1980s,” he wrote, adding that Qatar would be expecting a return on this investment.

“Mali has huge oil and gas potential and it needs help developing its infrastructure,” he said. “Qatar is well placed to help, and could also, on the back of good relations with an Islamist-ruled north Mali, exploit rich gold and uranium deposits in the country.”

Qatar’s foreign policy is also motivated by religion, wrote Lazar, and success in Mali would “greatly increase the Emirate’s influence in West Africa and the Sahel region”.

“If the Qatari influence in the current situation in Mali turns out to be real, it must be seen in the context of two branches of a global competition,” he wrote. “Firstly, competition with Saudi Arabia to be the centre of Sunni Islam; secondly, in terms of competition between the Sunni and Shiite branches of the Muslim faith.

“It would be an extension of the effort Qatar is already making in Egypt, Libya and in Tunisia.”

Lazar does not believe, however, that Qatar will get directly involved in the conflict unfolding in Mali, however, and that rather than getting its hands dirty, Doha will try to position itself as mediator in future negotiations between the Malian government, the various rebel groups in the north of the country, Algeria and France.

Is Qatar fuelling the crisis in north Mali? - France - France 24

 

[Shah9]

Amnesty admits links to activist accused of funding Al Qaeda
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NEW YORK // Amnesty International yesterday admitted working with a Swiss-based human rights group whose Qatari co-founder has been accused of financing Al Qaeda.

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The US treasury department said it would impose sanctions on Abdul Rahman Bin Umair Al Nuaimi, a history professor in Qatar and president of Al Karama, for raising funds for Al Qaeda and its affiliates in Syria, Iraq, Somalia and Yemen that at times had amounted to millions of dollars per month.

The US measures against Mr Al Nuaimi could spur debate among prominent human rights groups such as Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch about their close association with Al Karama, which claims to monitor human-rights abuses in Arab countries.

Al Karama regularly criticises US allies in the Arab world including the UAE, Saudi Arabia and Egypt. The charges against Mr Al Nuaimi could also have a diplomatic impact on American ties in the region since Qatar is also a US ally.

Amnesty International acknowledged in an email yesterday that Al Karama has helped it in the past with information on cases of human rights abuse and added that it was “unable to confirm” the accuracy of the US allegations. Human Rights Watch declined to comment.

In its statement, the US treasury department labelled Mr Al Nuaimi as a “terrorist financier and facilitator”, freezing his US assets and prohibiting any US citizens from “doing business” with him. The US provided no evidence indicating how it reached its findings.

The treasury department charged that Mr Al Nuaimi “provided financial support” for more than a decade to Al Qaeda and groups affiliated with it, including Asbat Al Ansar – an Islamist faction operating out of a Palestinian refugee camp in Lebanon – and Al Shabab in Somalia.

It said Mr Al Nuaimi this year ordered the transfer of almost US$600,000 (Dh2.2 million) to Al Qaeda through its representative in Syria, Abu-Khalid Al Suri – a figure known to be close to Al Qaeda leader Ayman Al Zawahiri. Mr Al Nuaimi had planned to transfer another $50,000, according to the statement, which also alleged that he had passed information to Al Qaeda.

Furthermore, Mr Al Nuaimi raised “significant” financial support for Al Qaeda in Iraq and facilitated ties between the group’s leaders and Qatar-based donors, the US statement said. He oversaw the transfer of more than $2m a month to Al Qaeda in Iraq “for a period of time”, according to the US.

Mr Al Nuaimi and top figures at Al Karama did not return calls or emails seeking comment over the weekend. Mourad Dhina, Al Karama’s executive director, was quoted by the US news and commentary website The Daily Beast on Thursday as saying the sanctions came as a shock and were “not good news for us”.

However, in a statement posted on Al Karama’s website on Saturday, Mr Al Nuaimi rejected the US accusations and threatened to fight the claims “by all legal means”.

He said the charges were aimed at suppressing his objections to American actions in the Middle East and were “largely fed by repressive regimes in the region”.

Mr Al Nuaimi said the accusations “aim to silence me because of my publicly declared opposition to US policies in the Arab world and in particular in the Gulf area since the invasion of Iraq in 2003”.

He also said he would quit his post in Al Karama to avoid harming his group’s work.

This year, Al Karama has criticised Saudi Arabia for illegal detentions and condemned the UAE for jailing more than 65 people convicted of plotting an Islamist coup.

The US treasury department statement also issued sanctions against Abdul Wahab Mohammed Abdul Rahman Al Humayqani, charging he had used his Yemen-based charity as a cover for funnelling funds to Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, or AQAP.

Since mid-2011, Mr Al Humayqani has served as “the acting AQAP amir” in Yemen’s Al Bayda governorate, according to the US. It added that suspicions against Mr Al Humayqani include plotting to assassinate Yemeni officials.

The US statement also said the activities of Mr Al Nuaimi and Mr Al Humayqani were connected, alleging the former had given funds to the latter’s Yemeni charity in 2012.

Treasury department officials indicated that they may target other non-governmental organisations active in the Middle East which they suspect were involved in violence against the US or its Gulf allies.

David Cohen, the US under secretary for terrorism and financial intelligence, said in the statement: “We will continue to work with our partners in the Gulf to ensure that charitable organisations are not used to support violence in the region or elsewhere.”

According to Mr Al Nuaimi, the US move to simultaneously issue sanctions against him and Mr Al Humayqani may have been driven by Al Karama’s condemnation of US airstrikes against alleged militants in Yemen. He pledged to take legal action against the sanctions, including in US courts, and added he would be willing to talk to US authorities to dismiss their suspicions.

Mr Al Nuaimi also said he had been banned from entering several Arab countries because of his criticism of them. While he did not name them, Mr Dhina of Al Karama told The Daily Beast that they included Saudi Arabia.

Amnesty admits links to activist accused of funding Al Qaeda | The National

 

[Shah9]

Islamic charity officials gave millions to al-Qaeda, U.S. says

When Qatar’s royal family was looking for advice on charitable giving, it turned to a well-regarded professor named Abd al-Rahman al-Nu’aymi. The 59-year-old educator had a stellar résumé that included extensive fundraising experience and years of work with international human rights groups.

But one apparent accomplishment was omitted from the list: According to U.S. officials, Nu’aymi also was working secretly as a financier for al-Qaeda, funneling millions of dollars to the terrorist group’s affiliates in Syria and Iraq even as he led campaigns in Europe for greater freedoms for Muslims.

Nu’aymi was one of two men identified by Treasury Department officials last week as major financial backers of al-Qaeda and its regional chapters across the Middle East. Although U.S. officials routinely announce steps to disrupt terrorist financing networks, the individuals named in the latest case are far from ordinary. Both men have served as advisers to government-backed foundations in Qatar and have held high-profile positions with international human rights groups. The second man, a Yemeni, is heavily involved in his country’s U.S.-backed political transition.

Their alleged dual roles — promoting humanitarian causes and civil rights while simultaneously supporting extremist groups — reflect a growing challenge for counterterrorism officials attempting to monitor the ******** of cash flowing to Islamist rebel groups in Syria, current and former U.S. officials say.

“Individuals with one foot in the legitimate world and another in the realm of terrorist financing provide al-Qaeda with a cloak of legitimacy,” said Juan Zarate, a former Treasury Department official and author of “Treasury’s Wars,” a book that describes U.S. efforts to penetrate terrorist financial networks. Zarate said such cases greatly complicate the “financial diplomacy” involved in attempting to disrupt terrorist support networks, especially private funding from wealthy Persian Gulf donors seeking to help Syria’s rebels.

Despite attempts by gulf states to crack down on jihadist financial networks, former and current U.S. officials have described a surge in private support for Islamist extremists in Syria, particularly in Qatar and Kuwait.

The Obama administration has repeatedly urged both countries to rein in private donations to jihadists, while acknowledging that new tactics, including the widespread use of Twitter and other social media, make fundraising more difficult to track.

“It is essential for countries to take proactive steps to disrupt terrorist financing, especially where al-Qaeda and its affiliates are concerned,” David S. Cohen, the Treasury Department’s undersecretary for terrorism and financial intelligence, said in announcing financial restrictions against Nu’aymi and the Yemeni national, Abd al-Wahhab al-Humayqani. Cohen said the Obama administration would continue to work with the gulf region’s capitals to “ensure that charitable donations are not used to support violence.”

The administration’s action last week named both men as “specially designated global terrorists,” a determination that allows U.S. officials to freeze their financial assets and bar American citizens and companies from doing business with them. Treasury Department documents alleged that both men used their charity work to conceal efforts to raise millions of dollars for al-Qaeda and other terrorist groups, from Syria to the Horn of Africa.

The naming of the two officials raised eyebrows in Qatar and Yemen, where supporters viewed the allegations as politically motivated. Both men have been prominent critics of U.S. counterterrorism policies, particularly the use of drone strikes against terrorism suspects.

Nu’aymi, a Qatar University professor and former president of the Qatar Football Association, was a founding member of a prominent charity — the Sheik Eid bin Mohammad al-Thani Charitable Foundation, named for a member of the country’s ruling family. In recent years, Nu’aymi had gained renown as an international activist, serving as president of Alkarama, a Geneva-based human rights organization that works closely with the United Nations and major international activist groups to advocate for Muslims’ civil rights.

Alkarama lobbies on behalf of Islamist detainees around the world, and it accuses Western and Arab governments of suppressing the rights of political groups that promote Islamic rule for the Middle East. Recently, the group has spoken out against U.S. drone strikes. Some of the group’s former clients are linked to Islamist militias seeking to overthrow Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.

Humayqani is an Alkarama founding member and onetime adviser to Qatar on charitable giving, according to his résumé. He is a founding member of Yemen’s conservative Rashad Union party and has served on the country’s National Dialogue Conference, a group established in the wake of the Arab Spring uprising to advise the government on political and economic reforms. The U.S. government strongly backs the National Dialogue with political and financial support.

Nu’aymi, in a response posted on Twitter last week, said the U.S. allegations were in retaliation for his criticism of American policies, including drone strikes in Yemen and U.S. support for the recent overthrow of Egypt’s democratically elected government. He said the U.S. claims about his fundraising work were “far from the truth.”

Humayqani was traveling and could not be reached for comment. A statement released by his Rashad Union party condemned what it called “false accusations” by the United States and urged Yemen’s government to rally to his defense.

The allegations against Nu’aymi come at a time of increasing U.S. concern about the role of Qatari individuals and charities in supporting extreme elements within Syria’s rebel alliance. One charity, Madid Ahl al-Sham, was cited by Jabhat al-Nusra in August as one of the preferred conduits for donations intended for the group, which has pledged loyalty to al-Qaeda leader Ayman al-Zawahiri.

Islamic charity officials gave millions to al-Qaeda, U.S. says - The Washington Post

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[Shah9]

Most wanted Chechen leader visit Doha​

Former Chechen President Zelimkhan Yanderbiyev has been killed in an explosion in Qatar.
The satellite TV station al-Jazeera said Mr Yanderbiyev's car was hit by a blast in the capital, Doha.

Two of his bodyguards were reportedly killed and his teenage son, Daud, is said to have been seriously injured in the blast.

Yanderbiyev was mentioned on a UN list of groups and people with suspected links to the al-Qaeda organisation.

A hospital spokesman said Mr Yanderbiyev was leaving a mosque after Friday prayers in Doha's northern Dasma district when the blast occurred.

A spokesman for the Chechen rebels, Movladi Udugov, has accused the Russian special services of involvement in the blast.

But Russia's Foreign Intelligence Service (SVR) has denied any involvement.

You will find no one in Chechnya who will regret what happened to Yanderbiyev

President Akhmad Kadyrov
Leader of Chechnya's pro-Moscow administration
The service "has not taken part in such actions since 1959," when a Soviet KGB agent in Munich assassinated Stepan Bandera, a Ukrainian nationalist, a spokesman for the service, Boris Labusov, was quoted as saying.

Wanted

Mr Yanderbiyev was acting Chechen president in 1996.

He headed the rebel delegation which held talks with Russian President Boris Yeltsin and Prime Minister Viktor Chernomyrdin in the same year.

He has been included on the Interpol wanted list since 2001.

The leader of Chechnya's pro-Moscow administration President Akhmad Kadyrov told Russia's Interfax news agency: "Yanderbiyev was the chief ideologue of the separatists and later of their terrorist organisations.

"You will find no one in Chechnya who will regret what happened to Yanderbiyev."

The former Chechen leader had been living in Qatar for three years and Moscow repeatedly sought his extradition.

He was viewed as a key figure behind the 1999 Chechen incursion into Dagestan.

He was also suspected of links to the siege of a Moscow theatre in October 2002 that left 130 hostages dead.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/3485993.st
Qatar Court Convicts 2 Russians in Top Chechen's Death

A court in Qatar convicted two Russian secret agents on Wednesday in the murder of a former president of Chechnya in the Persian Gulf, a killing that the presiding judge said had been ordered by the Russian government.

In his statement, the Qatari judge, Ibrahim Saleh al-Nisf, for the first time publicly accused senior Russian officials of orchestrating the killing of Zelimkhan Yandarbiyev, a Chechen rebel leader in exile who died in February when a bomb exploded in his Land Cruiser as he left a mosque in Qatar's capital, Doha.

''The Russian leadership issued an order to assassinate the former Chechen leader Yandarbiyev,'' the judge said, according to news reports. He did not implicate President Vladimir V. Putin or any other officials by name, but said the plot had been discussed at ''Russian intelligence headquarters in Moscow'' and set in motion last August.

The Russian government has repeatedly denied involvement in Mr. Yandarbiyev's killing, but the trial of the agents, Anatoly V. Belashkov and Vasily A. Bogachyov, has become a political and diplomatic embarrassment for the Kremlin. It has strained relations with Qatar and the Arab world and focused unwanted attention on the clandestine work of Russia's secret services and their efforts to stifle international support for the separatist war in Chechnya.

Speaking to reporters in Indonesia on Wednesday, Foreign Minister Sergey V. Lavrov again said the two men were innocent, though officials have acknowledged that they were intelligence operatives sent to Qatar as part of Russia's counterterrorism efforts. In a measured reaction, Mr. Lavrov said Russia would continue to seek their release while ''respecting court procedures'' in Qatar.

''Moscow still assumes that the Russian citizens are not involved in the attempt on Yandarbiyev,'' Mr. Lavrov said, seeming to choose his words carefully and to avoid, as officials have lately, naming or identifying the two men as secret agents.

Although the proceedings took place behind closed doors -- at the defense's request -- the trial has provided an international stage for both sides to air their grievances about Russia's war in Chechnya and debate the question of whether the fight against terrorism justified such extreme measures.

Among those in the courtroom on Wednesday was Akhmed Zakayev, a leader of Chechnya's separatist movement, who has successfully challenged efforts by Russia to extradite him.

Mr. Zakayev said in a telephone interview that the killing of Mr. Yandarbiyev showed that Russia under Mr. Putin had reverted to the darkest tactics of its Soviet past, when K.G.B. agents tracked down enemies of the state overseas.

''If the international community does not give proper attention to what happened in Qatar,'' he said, ''I am absolutely sure that these methods may be tried again in other countries, including Western countries.''

After two months of hearings, the court sentenced the two Russians to life in prison. In Qatar's judicial system, a life sentence is equivalent to 25 years. Prosecutors had called for them to be executed.

Russia's relatively muted official reaction -- especially compared with angry statements made when the agents were first arrested -- has heightened speculation that the two men could yet be released to Russian custody, as officials and the men's lawyers have requested.

Najib al-Nauimi, a former justice minister in Qatar, told Al Jazeera television on Wednesday that he expected the Russians would be released within weeks or months, now that the trial had been concluded.

A third Russian who was arrested with the two agents, Aleksandr Fetisov, first secretary at the Russian Embassy in Doha, was released in March because of his diplomatic immunity. At the same time, Russia released two wrestlers from Qatar's Olympic team who had been detained at an airport in Moscow, apparently in an effort to exert pressure on Qatar.

Those releases came after Mr. Putin spoke with Qatar's emir, Sheik Hamad bin Khalifa al-Thani, in an effort to defuse tensions.

Mr. Yandarbiyev, who was 51, served briefly as president of Chechnya after its first separatist leader, Dzhokhar M. Dudayev, was killed by Russian forces in 1996 during the first war in Chechnya, a republic in southern Russia. A poet and steadfast Chechen nationalist, he took part in the negotiations with President Boris N. Yeltsin that ended the war later that year, giving Chechnya de facto independence.

After Russian forces entered Chechnya again in 1999, Mr. Yandarbiyev fled and eventually settled in Qatar, where he continued to raise money for separatist rebels, now in the fifth year of fighting Russian forces in the republic, according to Russian and international officials.

Qatar refused repeated Russian requests to extradite him, saying he was not involved in political or diplomatic activity, even though the United States and the United Nations put him on a list of people suspected of ties to Al Qaeda and other terrorist organizations after Chechen militants seized a theater in Moscow in October 2002.

Mr. Yandarbiyev died on Feb. 13 when a bomb, attached to the undercarriage of his Land Cruiser, exploded as he drove from a mosque where he had attended prayer services. The blast also seriously injured his 13-year-old son, Daud.

According to Russian and Qatari news reports citing investigators and court proceedings, the two Russian agents arrived in Doha two weeks before the killing and smuggled the explosives from Saudi Arabia in a diplomatic pouch.

The men, reported to be agents of the military intelligence agency G.R.U., were arrested a week after the killing during a raid by Qatari officers at the residence of Mr. Fetisov, the Russian diplomat, who was also an intelligence agent serving under diplomatic guise, according to a Foreign Ministry statement at the time.

Mr. Zakayev, one of the Kremlin's fiercest critics abroad, said the killing amounted to ''international terrorism with the use of diplomatic passports and diplomatic mail.''

But Dmitri O. Afanasiyev, a Russian lawyer who represented the two men during the trial, said the charges were fabrications. The only evidence presented against them, he said, were two confessions extracted under torture. In a telephone interview from Doha, he said the men were deprived of sleep and access to bathrooms for four days. He also said they had also been bitten by dogs during interrogation.

Mr. Afanasiyev cited what he called numerous irregularities that prevented a free trial, from their arrest in a diplomatic residence to the seizure of evidence there. He said the lawyers, hired by the Foreign Ministry, would appeal the verdict.

''If they tortured anybody the way they tortured my clients, they would say it was ordered in Rome or Washington or Paris,'' Mr. Afanasiyev said.

Photo: The presiding judge, Ibrahim Saleh al-Nisf, center, read his decision yesterday in Doha, Qatar, sentencing two Russians to life. He was with Judge Mohammad al-Mohannadi, left, and Judge Khalid al-Shuraim. (Photo by European Pressphoto Agency)

Qatar Court Convicts 2 Russians in Top Chechen's Death - New York Times​

 

[elis]

Zionist Al Qaeda are good for the wahabits regimes, dogs of NATO, to install their masters in Afghanistan, Mali

Al Qaeda never fought JEW France in Mali (only 4 french terrorists killed)

In Afghanistan it's the afghans, oppressed by the zionist Al Qaeda, who fight the americans

 

[Shah9]

US accused Qatar of funding Somalia’s Al Shabab militia, Wikileaks reveals

The United States accused its close ally Qatar of funding the Al-Shabab militia in Somalia, newly released diplomatic cables reveal.

The extraordinary claim was made in a 26 October 2009 meeting between Ambassador Susan Rice, the US Permanent Representative to the United Nations and her Turkish counterpart Ambassador Ertugul Apakan. A US diplomatic cable of minutes of the meeting was leaked by Wikileaks on 24 August.

This accusation – if true – means that the United States and Qatar have been funding and arming opposing sides in Somalia’s bloody civil war, which has undoubtedly exacerbated the catastrophic famine that is gripping the country. Qatar, the cables show, strenuously denied the accusation.

The cables also shed more light on the extent to which the United States is involved in proxy wars in the Horn of Africa.

Qatar “funding insurgents”
According to the cable:

Apakan said that Turkey wanted to be helpful in Somalia and agreed with the U.S. approach of continuing broad-based support for the Transitional Federal Government. Ambassador Rice expressed concerns about Qatar’s role in funding insurgents through Eritrea who were operating in Somalia, and suggested that Turkey could be helpful by weighing in with Qatar.

The cable does not provide any more detail about why the Qataris might have been supporting Al Shabab, nor the nature of the American intelligence on which Rice was basing her statements.

American weapons fuel Somali war
Soon after it took office in 2009, the Obama administration began shipping weapons and ammunition to the US-backed “Transitional Federal Government” (TFG) of Somalia, which it was often said controlled no more than a few blocks of the capital Mogadishu.

The Americans wanted to fight back the Islamist Al Shabab militia that had gained control of – and still controls large parts of Somalia.

This would mean that if true, Qatar, which hosts a massive US air force base, and the United States were directly or indirectly arming different sides in a bloody proxy war.

The United States also backed a 2006 Ethiopian invasion of Somalia intended to support the TFG, which possibly explains the role of Ethiopia’s enemy Eritrea in supporting Al-Shabab.

TFG suspicions of Qatar role funding Al Shabab
A classified July 2009 US Embassy in Tripoli cable recording minutes of a meeting between US “Assistant Secretary for African Affairs Johnnie Carson and TFG President Sheikh Sharif Sheikh Ahmad in Sirte, Libya states:

President Sharif, who was accompanied by SOMALIA Transitional Federal Government (TFG) Foreign Minister Mohamed Abdullahi Omaar and Chief of Staff and Senior Adviser Abdulkareem Jama, thanked the USG for its support. Reviewing his government’s efforts to repel al-Shabaab’s forces, Sharif said the TFG has implemented every mechanism to stabilize Mogadishu, but al-Shabaab’s support remains strong and has the backing of al-Qaida. Sharif blamed certain governments, including QATAR, of providing financial assistance to al-Shabaab, and he accused Eritrea of funneling these funds as well as weapons to al-Shabaab. Despite these challenges, the TFG intends to remain in SOMALIA to defend the country, the SOMALIA President said.”

These concerns were apparently more widespread than just the TFG and the Americans. A20 August 2009 cable from the US Embassy in Cairo records that Arab Leagure Secretary General Amr Moussa had discussed the matter with the Emir of Qatar, Sheikh Hamad:

Qatari denial
Qatar strongly denied the accusation of funding Al Shabab. A 20 August 2009 cable from the US Embassy in Cairo detailed a meeting between US officials and Zeid Al Sabban, an aide to Arab League Secretary General Amr Moussa. The minutes indicate that Moussa had discussed the matter with the Qatari Emir Sheikh Hamad:

Al Sabban said SYG Moussa discouraged QATARI EMIR Hamad from supporting Al Shibaab through Eritrea, a charge the EMIR emphatically denied(reftel B). The EMIR did admit to providing Eritrea with financial assistance and encouraging QATARi investment in the country. Al Sabban asked for an update on USG [US Government] discussions with the QATARI government on the topic of funding for Eritrea and Al Shibaab.

Turkey’s role
Earlier this month, Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan made the first visit to Mogadishu by any head of government in more than 20 years. Erdogan made a commitment to open a Turkish embassy in the war torn capital and pledged significant additional Turkish aid to the country particularly to combat the famine. Turkey is providing hundreds of millions of dollars in famine relief and long-term aid to Somalia.

Could this be part of Turkey making good on Ambassador Apakan’s promise to Rice that his country would be “helpful” in supporting the TFG? Erdogan’s high-profile visit can certainly be read as boosting international legitimacy for the embattled government.

Aside from any political or diplomatic aspect to the Turkish role, the least that can be said is that while the United States sent life-destroying weapons and ammunition to the country, Turkey is sending significant amounts of aid.

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[Syrian Lion]

Qatar supports terrorists in Syria and else where in the world, it is a simple known fact, some people ignore it because it doesn't go with their agenda...

 

[Infoman]

makes sense Qatar and Saudi Arabia have the same policy of supporting al Qaeda.

 

[Shah9]

BESIDES FUNDING ISLAMISTS, QATAR IS SPENDING A ‘MIND-BOGGLING’ AMOUNT OF MONEY ON…

Earlier this month, members of Congress were recruiting the signatures of colleagues for a letter addressed to Qatar’s ambassador to the United States to address “serious allegations” about the Persian Gulf state’s close ties with the terror group Hamas, to which it pledged $400 million last year.

While Qatar provides crucial space for U.S. forces at the al-Udeid Airbase, it also invested massive amounts of money in cultivating its ties with then Egyptian President Mohammed Morsi and the Muslim Brotherhood, to which it gave $8 billion in aid over the past two years.

The Financial Times in May wrote that Qatar is estimated “by rebel and diplomatic sources” to have contributed about $1 billion to Islamist rebels fighting Syrian President Bashar Assad, though “people close to the Qatar government” put the number closer to $3 billion.

In light of Qatar’s nurturing Islamist movements around the Middle East, it comes as some surprise that its leadership is also keenly focused on amassing a pricey modern art collection.

The New York Times reports that the enormously wealthy country “is buying art at a level never seen before” and is spending an estimated $1 billion a year to satisfy this growing appetite for fine art.

“They’re the most important buyers of art in the market today,” Patricia G. Hambrecht, the chief business development officer for Phillips auction house tells the New York Times. “The amount of money being spent is mind-boggling.”

The acquisition budgets of major American museums pale in comparison with Qatar’s annual budget. New York’s Museum of Modern Art “spent $32 million to acquire art for the fiscal year that ended in June 2012; [and] the Metropolitan Museum of Art, $39 million,” the New York Times reports.

Despite the secrecy surrounding art auctions, the Times reveals some of the amounts Qatar spent on art masterpieces, including more than $70 million for Rothko’s “White Center” acquired in 2007 (way above the $40 million estimated); more than $20 million for a Damien Hirst pill cabinet, “then a record for a living artist”; $250 million for Cézanne’s “Card Players” in 2011, “the highest known price ever paid for a painting.”

Qatar’s largesse also seems to be significantly driving up art prices. The Times reports, “Until Qatar’s 2007 purchase, for example, the most expensive Rothko ever sold at auction (‘Homage to Matisse’) had drawn $22 million in 2005, less than one-third of the price Qatar paid. In 2011 the $250 million spent for ‘Card Players’ was four times the highest public price ever paid for a work by that artist.”

The New York Times reports:

The purchasing is directed through intermediaries by Sheika al Mayassa bint Hamad bin Khalifa al-Thani, chairwoman of the Qatar Museums Authority and a sister to Qatar’s new emir. At age 30 she has become one of the most influential players in the art world.

No one knows exactly how much Sheika al Mayassa has spent on behalf of her family or the museum authority since she was named chairwoman by her father, the former emir, in 2006. But experts estimate the acquisition budget reaches $1 billion a year and say the Qataris have used it to secure a host of undisputed modern and contemporary masterpieces by Francis Bacon, Roy Lichtenstein, Andy Warhol and Jeff Koons.

In 2011, the Art Newspaper called Qatar “the world’s biggest buyer in the art market…and is behind most of the major modern and contemporary art deals over the past six years.” It reported that the Sheika’s art advisors were quietly building the collection through direct purchases from dealers and at auction. To aid the project, the Sheika hired former Christie’s chairman Edward Dolman as the executive director of the Qatar Museums Authority

The Sheika – who the Economist recently named “the art world’s most powerful woman” – would not give an interview to the New York Times, but in 2010 told the paper that setting up art museums might challenge Western preconceptions about Islam.

“My father often says, in order to have peace, we need to first respect each other’s cultures,” she told the paper. “And people in the West don’t understand the Middle East. They come with Bin Laden in their heads.”

The Qatar Museums Authority has established three high-profile museums in recent years designed by acclaimed architects Jean Nouvel, I. M. Pei and Jean-François Bodin.

Art watchers believe the goal is to make Qatar a destination hub for art aficionados.

 

[Zarvan]

@Shah9 and you are most probably supporter off mass murderer Bashar Al Asad am I right ?

 

[BLACKEAGLE]

Al Qaeda in Iran, Why Tehran is Accommodating the Terrorist Group? | Page 12