US media is reporting further information on the role of Qatar in hosting fugitives from the Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood and assisted by the AL Jazeera media network.. According to a World Tribune report:
Sunday, December 1st, 2013 ABU DHABI — Qatar has become the new host of fugitives from Egypt’s ousted Muslim Brotherhood with Qatar’s Al Jazeera media network said to be providing a key financing role for Brotherhood leaders. Arab diplomats said scores of senior Brotherhood have escaped to Qatar over the last three months.
They said the Gulf Cooperation Council emirate, a firm supporter of the ousted Islamist regime, has provided the Brotherhood with homes and stipends as well as the ability to sponsor protests in Egypt. ‘
Qatar has welcomed all of the Brotherhood operatives, but asked them to keep a low profile,’ a diplomat said.
The Brotherhood leaders in Qatar include Ashraf Bader Eddin, Amer Darag and Hamza Zawba.
The diplomats said all of the leaders were funded through Qatar’s Al Jazeera television, with Zawba hired as a commentator for the Arabic satellite network.
The diplomats said a key lobbyist in Qatar has been Sheik Yusef Qaradawi, deemed the most popular Sunni preacher and himself an exile from Egypt.
Read the rest here.
In November, the Washington Post published an article titled “Egypt’s Muslim Brotherhood Finds Havens Abroad” that looked at Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood leaders whohad fled the crackdown and found refuge in Qatar.
Our predecessor publication reported in August 2012 on the plans for an Egypt-Qatar summit where then Egyptian President Mohamed Morsi was to receive the Emir of Qatar. AP had reported earlier that Qatar was granting Egypt a $2 billion loan to help the country’s troubled economy. A post from March 2013 had reported that the Deputy Chairman of the Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood was visiting Qatar for meetings with Qatari officials.
Before the overthrow of President Morsi, a series of media articles had discussed the growing importance of the Muslim Brotherhood to Qatari foreign policy:
- Bloomburg News posted an article titled “Rising Islamist Movement Has Small But Wealthy Patron” that looks at tensions resulting in the Gulf as a result of Qatari funding of the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt.
- A Gulf newspaper posted an article by academic Dr. Ahmad Jamil Azem titled “Qatar’s Ties with the Muslim Brotherhood Affect Entire Region.”
- The Atlantic Council Web site posted an article titled “Egypt’s Muslim Brotherhood: Between a Present with Qatar and a Future with Libya” that discusses the future of Qatari-Egyptian relations in light of the failure of the Libyan Muslim Brotherhood to prevail in recent elections.
- The Voice of America posted an article that discusses the role of the Muslim Brotherhood in driving Qatari foreign policy.
- Reuters posted an article titled “Rising power Qatar stirs unease among some Mideast neighbors” that looks at the discomfort engendered in the region partly as a result of Qatar’s support of the Muslim Brotherhood.
However, in March 2013, Qatar denied the myriad reports that it was supporting the Muslim Brotherhood.