As Qatar tries to convince critics that it’s cracking down on ISIL fundraisers within its borders, the US government has designated four men with ties to the Gulf country as terrorists for their alleged financial activities.
The accusations involve private individuals and not government officials. However, some of the men appear to have already had run-ins with local authorities for similar fundraising activities.
In a statement released last week, the US Treasury Department said that a “Qatar-based ISIL financial facilitator” – which it did not identify – raised $2 million that was to be sent to the armed organization in September 2013.
The payment was arranged by Tariq Bin-Al-Tahar Bin Al Falih Al-‘Awni Al-Harzi, a Tunisian that the US called the “Amir of suicide bombers,” who allegedly assisted with the fundraising efforts in Qatar.
Another individual, Ashraf Muhammad Yusuf Uthman Abdul Salam – a Jordanian who at one point held a Qatar residence permit – is accused of working to facilitate the transfer of hundreds of thousands of dollars to al-Qaeda in Pakistan in mid-2012.
The money apparently came from Khalifa Muhammad Turki al-Subaiy, a Qatar-based ISIL fundraiser who was designated a terrorist financier by the United Nations in 2008. That same year, he was convicted in absentia by a Bahraini court for financing terrorism and facilitating the travel of other individuals so they could receive terrorist training. He was subsequently arrested and jailed in Qatar.
Separately, two other men – a Qatari and a Jordanian who held a Qatar residence permit – are accused of purchasing and transporting weapons to Syria with the help of an al-Qaeda associate in that country, according to the US.
The Jordanian, Abdul Malik Muhammad Yusuf ‘Uthman Abdul Salam, was arrested by Lebanese authorities in Beirut in May 2012 as he attempted to head to Doha.
The US government said the Qatari, Ibrahim Isa Hajji Muhammad al-Bakr, belonged to a terrorist cell that plotted to attack American military bases and personnel in Qatar as early as 2006.
Al-Bakr was arrested in Qatar in the early 2000s for his involvement in what the US calls a “jihadist network,” but was subsequently released after promising not to conduct terrorist activity in his home country.
Last week’s designations follow a similar move by the US Treasury Department in December 2013, when it accused former Qatar University professor Abdul Rahman Bin Umair Al Nuaimi of providing financial support to Al Qaeda, among other groups. He has denied the allegations.
The American designation freezes any assets under US jurisdiction held by the individuals, as well as prohibiting Americans from engaging in financial and commercial transactions with the designees.
New rules
The US Treasury Department’s new designations involve activities that allegedly took place before Qatar introduced new rules that make it harder for charities to send funds abroad.
As of earlier this month, organizations must now obtain special permission prior to sending funds to groups outside the country, and must also provide local authorities receipts and other details of the transaction.
Last year, the US State Department said Qatar’s efforts to reduce money laundering and financing of armed organizations “are lacking” and that the country’s monitoring of private individuals’ and charitable associations’ contributions to foreign entities “remained inconsistent.”
However, the Switzerland-based Basel Institute on Governance recently concluded that Qatar has become less susceptible to money laundering and terrorist financing in recent years, and is the least at-risk state in the GCC, behind Oman.
As the international attention on ISIL increased this year, Qatar faced a growing chorus of criticism that it funds the armed group, or at least turns a blind eye to those raising money for it in the Gulf state.
Up until recently, comments made by government ministers appeared to only directly defend the actions of the state and not private individuals.
In late August, the country’s foreign minister said “Qatar does not endorse any extremist group in any way” in a Huffington Post op-ed. Speaking in Germany several weeks later, the Emir made a similar statement, saying “Qatar has never and will never support terrorist organizations.”
However, in a CNN interview aired Thursday, the Emir appeared to go further by mentioning the role of individuals for the first time when he said he did not “accept anybody funding … certain movements, especially in Syria and Iraq.”
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4J-smFoEpsM&feature=youtu.be&app=desktop
Thoughts?
I did wonder if you would run this story or whether it was too close to home. One UK newspaper seems to have done its homework and names names.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/middleeast/qatar/11125897/The-Club-Med-for-terrorists.html
This is shocking of correct that he government in Qatar turned a blind eye to such activities. It must be why they are cracking down on charities now due to problems caused by their own citizens.
some pretty big leaps and assumptions in there, may want to edit, seems you typed it a big quickly as well
Oh dear. That makes for grim reading. Oh well, if you don’t like it you can always…etc, etc.
I didn’t get this and I am serious….
“Al-Bakr was arrested in Qatar in the early 2000s for his involvement in
what the US calls a “jihadist network,” but was subsequently released
after promising not to conduct terrorist activity in his home country.”
Does this mean this guy can do terrorist activity somewhere else?
If you can’t trust a suspected terrorist to keep his word to not conduct terrorist activity, who can you trust?
AHAHAHAH! …yeah right….
Yip – that’s what it sounds like. There is a certain logic to it in that what may considered “terrrorist” in one place may be considered “freedom fighting” somewhere else. Didn’t Ronald Reagan teach us this?
What the…..seriously?? Released after promising…I give up.
We actually don’t know what he was found guilty of, so, let’s not be quick to judge.
Actually I would very much like to judge. You don’t get asked to promise not to play terrorist if you make an honest living
Not necessarily; many of the people (mostly Arabs) the U.S. sent to Gitmo, where they stayed jailed with no trial for years, were accused of being terrorists or terror supporters, but in fact they were in Afghanistan doing charitable work like digging wells and such. Some Afghans would capture those people, and hand them over to the U.S. army to get monetary award.
In this case it is possible that this man was simply accused by the U.S. of being involved with Al-Qeda, but there was no real evidence to prove so, and thus no justification for Qatar to jail him.
Well explained Abdulrahman. See how many people were let go from Gitmo after years of jail, person that comes to mind now is the Aljazeera cameraman.
hey I did not say it, I read it like you…. :-()
Yes, I suppose he can. But only if he also “promises” with an official MOI pledge to not use his phone while driving. Then he can.
He was supposed to be under country detention, passport confiscated, as agreed to by the Qatari government to secure his release. So quite a favor from Uncle Sam to the Emir I’d say. If I’m not mistaken the same guy showed up not long after at Heathrow trying to enter the UK and the Brits caught him and sent him back. Why do you think many Americans were leery of the idea of sending 5 Taliban guys here? Qatar good on talk of idea, cheap on execution of idea. Shock!
“Al-Bakr was arrested in Qatar in the early 2000s for his involvement in what the US calls a “jihadist network,” Based on this, it seems he was arrested in Qatar and not the U.S.?! If anything, it was Qatar who did the favor arresting the man just to keep uncle Sam happy. But hey, who’s counting.
My fault, wrong guy. But they did keep their promise for 6 months. LOL.
Despite a 2008 promise in writing, the Qataris let former Guantanamo Bay prisoner Jarallah al-Marri travel to Great Britain, where he was arrested.
On July 27, 2008, the U.S. released Jarallah al Marri, a Qatari citizen who had been detained in Afghanistan in late 2001 and held thereafter at the U.S. prison in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, according to State Department cables made public by Wikileaks. As part of the deal to hand him over, the Qataris signed agreements that contained “explicit assurances” that al Marri would not be able to travel outside the country, the leaked documents show.
That agreement was not kept. In early 2009, U.S. counterterrorism officials received word from British authorities that they had arrested al Marri attempting to enter the United Kingdom and were holding him, according to two former officials familiar with the case. The U.S. ambassador to Qatar at the time, Joseph LeBaron, held a meeting with the Qatari Attorney General to complain. The result, according to the leaked cables, “was far from satisfying.”
U.S. officials say this time, the deal with Qatar is more iron clad, in part because of personal assurances given to President Obama by the Emir of Qatar himself. “What is different now,” a senior administration official tells TIME, is that “we have stronger assurances and the personal commitment of the head of state, which is extremely unusual for GTMO or anything else.”
Yeah but that isn’t what we’re talking about.
America has supported terrorists and dictatorships way before Qatar even received its independence. Go ask the Iranians what happened to their first democratically elected president. Only time a terrorist group becomes “bad” is when they are anti-American, never strictly on principle, this is a fact documented in history.
Like I said we could send our boys home and let ISIS proceed with their plans which does include the Gulf. Will be funny watching the Qataris stave off the tide while primping in their LCs and yelling for the maid to bring their AK. LOL you guys are meat without the outsiders to you your bidding.
That is a fictional scenario, only a simpleton would believe the USA would just pull out after having wasted billions and all the lives lost after their illegal invasion based on their faulty intelligence, just to decide in the end to just let ISIS take over.
Reality is funnier though, your economy down the drain, but you are proud you can sit in your boxers drinking beer on the lazy boy watching Superbowl and shoot innocent African Americans who look “suspicious” by being black at night, great freedoms indeed, but lo and behold what happens when you have an injury, if you didn’t catch that technicality on your health insurance plan you will be paying a sum equivalent to a mortgage down payment for treatment that most developed nations would offer as a basic government service.
Bit harsh, don’t you think? 314 million people spread across the 4th largest country by land in the world probably shouldn’t be stereotyped.
I think his point – blunt at it was – is that without the U.S., there’s little hope of stopping the Islamic State. Unless you prefer their system of governance…
Of course not, however when you deal with types who make simple minded arguments and lack the ability to see things beyond their narrow minded view of the world, they typically only “get the point” if you respond in kind as opposed to explaining points rationally, which will only work with those who possess the capability to think rationally.
Without the the aid of the US military a lot of wars in Asia, Europe, etc., would have had different results in a lot of cases, no one can deny this, but when you go around saying things like “If it wasn’t for us you would be speaking German now” for example, you come across more as a simple minded idiot than someone making a sound point.
Maybe you should run for office…
this is also true. See Latin America
It must be tough to be the Emir of Qatar 🙂
1- We do not fund terrorists – uhmm yes you do
2- We did not bribe in 2022- uhmm yes you did
3- I’m sad for enslaving people – Falcons get new passports to travel lol
Everyone here is reported to the MOI.
You will all be put in jail!
Click on my profile name and this hater’s name, see the number of posts and know the difference. It’s “James Aberdeen” who’s posting this after I caught him with his posts. He works for an enemy state PR, and he’s now writing comments with a copy of my nickname “LoveItOrLeaveIt”.
This guy is a racist idiot, and had posted some other nonsense yesterday about how much different sheikhs salaries are. He is a perfect example of how Qatar unfortunately does not have strict recruitment standards and trash like him make it into the country.
Exactly, and he will probably come back with different nicknames writing BS that most haters here would blindly agree with. “Expat Girl” seems to like his posts in the article you mentioned.
I also don’t think he’s in Qatar, probably in an intelligence agency of an enemy state. This has already been reported, Doha News should be careful on what is posted on their websites specially under the new law. 🙂
And you’re about the biggest hater on here. Does your husband condone such words coming from his wife’s mouth?
Certainly not as hate filled as the crap you post. Does your society condone you posting on DN when there are African Americans roaming around freely at night? Surely they need to be taken care of for having the audacity to be black at night in ‘Murica. How dare they!
lol hahaha.. the black African American response. Yes Yes racism on a micro or NANO scale seems to count in here. Man, stfu and go allow your slave to travel.
You can use any card but racism Saleem.. anything but that
Go write more fake stories on “Qatar facts” bro, Shakespeare would be envious of the volumes of work you can produce in a day, too bad your work will only be good as toilet paper if published.
I still seem to be getting your attention. This was my goal 🙂
don’t hate if I happen to know more than I should… it just happened that way
keep the hate and the argument aside now. For real what I said is true. I know you won’t believe or maybe you do.. but at least investigate what I said with the right people and you will know
“you’re” , “your”, “you” , well it’s obvious who’s the biggest hater her.
You people make me laugh. You went and you copied and pasted my responses from other sources, ONLY because I do not consider your Emir perfect? OH NO! – excuse me! How dare I? Maybe I should pray for him before I sleep to forgive me for my sins in life…
Listen friend, I am perfectly allowed to place my own opinions on other websites, provided that my opinions are within the other websites’ rules and regulations. You are not in a position to challenge me or call me an ENEMY of your state, if you do not agree with what I write somewhere else.
Every single contribution I made in here falls within the rules of this website. Who are you to copy and paste what I wrote in other places and who are you to call me a PR activist of an enemy state? why? Is it because I disagree with you just like millions of people do in this world? – I edited those responses on the “other” websites as I am sure having them will never change anything and “not” having them will make you have a better sleep. So, I apologize if that made you get aggravated. You can imagine how a slight aggravation feels like now and start acting accordingly. Evil words are harmless compared to evil actions.
Saleem, I am not a racist idiot. I am someone who is fed up of racism. A racist idiot is someone who agrees that people should be treated differently according to their skin color and get paid differently according to their skin color. This is being Racist!, just like Terrorist means ANYONE that directly or indirectly causes any form of “emotional” or “physical” or “psychological” harm to anyone else outside the premises of the law. If you have any trouble understanding the meanings to these words, simply do NOT use them!
No, rest sure that I won’t ever come back here with different names. Trust me, I think you people deserve each other in a way. I know this response will be deleted. Thanks to the 21st century freedom of speech. You are all missing out on an amazing part of living in the 21st century. “Freedom” May God help you and help your people.
You have too much time on your hands dude, you impersonate other users and you wrote essays yesterday that were half as long as this and I didn’t bother reading it all because after a paragraph it was obviously just time wasting drivel, now you think any sensible person would bother reading all this crap? Lol get a life dude, or seek professional help because you clearly have issues.
weird I remember you hitting the like button to my essays. You are a nobody. Even your country rejects you man lol. Enjoy Singapore
I am not hating. I can’t hate you because you and many like you are the reason why I made so much money in 2 years lol.
I was talking about the pathetic essays you wrote on Sheikh salaries and other crap .
To be called a “nobody” can be very offending, but when the person who calls you that had spent two days in a row writing essays and impersonating online users to troll, it becomes quite laughable!
It is all true facts and you can research.
I made it my life’s mission. I want to expose them pigs… I have so much money to spend, thanks to the idiots who buy falcons and eat with their hands and feet
Call them what you want and expose them if you can, but you lose credibility when you start fabricating numbers to give your “research” weight. Just makes you look like a bitter idiot, which appears to be the case from your other racist posts.
nothing was fabricated. I happen to know more than you do. Otherwise, I would not talk…
You don’t know s**t, a low class trash expat is not going to be privy to that kind of information.
I dare you.. ask me any secret. If I answer wrong, then you can be sure that I am full of sh.. try me man just try
Dude why do you think I stopped reading those posts? It was because the figures were
incorrect , maybe there was some truth in the later parts of what you
wrote, but I was put off reading the rest as soon as I saw those
incorrect numbers. You can’t post strong allegations with some of your
info being questionable, because even if there is some truth to the rest of
it, you’ve already created doubt in the mind of your readers because of some incorrectness earlier on.
Oh so you admit that everything I said is correct except for the salary figures? This is good enough! Salaries might have changed since my knowledge was last updated. So what?.. I am not offended by that. Nothing is crisp clear perfect in life Saleem…
btw: the figures I gave are again for the eldest family members. (very important piece)
So what are the correct figures If you don’t mind me asking? .. just want to update my knowledge…
I didn’t read all of it like I said, the only other thing I recall you mentioning is something about the pecking order but that is not really a secret, it is common knowledge to all that it exists.
Fair enough. So you are judging my knowledge without fully investigating the facts I gave.
See Saleem, this is why I was hired and not you. From now on, try to investigate before you judge. Trust me… It makes a big difference.
No, I judge your knowledge based on a combination of things. How you claim to be motivated to “expose” the truth yet your posts are hate filled and offer nothing beyond insulting Qatar and Qataris, even children posing with a falcon don’t escape your need to ridicule.
If a doctor started coming to work with a purple Mohawk and cussing every time he spoke, see how many patients would feel comfortable having him operate on them.
Same applies to your conduct on here, those incorrect figures you posted and the obvious visceral loathing you have for anything to do with Qatar, those factors are what influenced my judgement of your knowledge and your motivations when you claim to be objective and only revealing “facts”.
Deleting all these comments for hijacking our thread. Take it offline, guys.
Sounds like take it outside….advocating violence Shabina???? 🙂
Poor Shabina can’t catch a break
thought this guy was banned from DN
Really not helpful to threaten Doha News. Even though I don’t live in Qatar anymore, I do come back here because the comments section is one of the few free speech venues in the entire Gulf. (Reddit also comes to mind, but it’s not located in the Gulf). Most likely, your complaints will get this venue shut down. That won’t make anyone think highly of Qatar, and it certainly won’t stop Qatar’s PR struggle.
Rather, you can let this guy (or gal) fizzle out by looking dumb. Calling a leader a pig automatically makes you lose your argument.
Honestly, complaints about comments are not likely to get this site shut down. QL has been going for years, despite complaints from thin-skinned people who don’t actually have to read the comments if they don’t want to.
QL is useless now. They made their site so user unfriendly no one posts anymore except those that like the sound of their own voice.
I second that (adey)
it seems that user has been writing things like that since reading about the new cyber laws….however, being compared to pig is not a bad thing after all, better be compared to pig than to narrow minded!!!
He just likes to see you all with your panties in a wad.
He’s just lower class trash with too much time on his hands, I highly doubt a proper professional working abroad spends his free time online impersonating users to troll news sites. Just confirms what I always say about a substantial portion of the expat community in Doha, unwanted trash of the international community.
Good work men. Continue your work, such hurdles will come and solve InshaAllah. If we stop such work, US and Israel will kill more people in Palestine, Iraq, Afghanistan, Syria etc.