In an interview with the pan-Arab newspaper Al-Hayat, the Qatari Foreign Minister Khalid Attiyah has denied that his country supports the Muslim Brotherhood. According to a translation of the report:
Attiyah refused to link Qatar’s support of Egypt with the rule of the Muslim Brotherhood, and said, ‘Qatar does not back the Brotherhood.’ He continued to affirm that it stood with Egypt and backed it from the onset of the January 25 Revolution, when the military council ruled and Essam Sharaf formed a government, and that it ‘still is implementing the agreements signed with those governments.’ He attributed the departure of Muslim Brotherhood members from Doha to ‘them feeling pressured by some Arab brothers; to the point that they requested to leave.’ He pointed out that their families ‘remained our guests.’
Concerning the trial of former Egyptian President Mohammed Morsi on charges of spying for Qatar and revealing sensitive information, Attiyah said: ‘I have nothing to say on that.’”
Read the whole interview here.
Whatever the real position of Qatar towards the Egyptian organization there is no doubt that the country continues to be a major sponsor of the Global Muslim Brotherhood. As we observed last September:
Qatar is a major sponsor of the Global Muslim Brotherhood networks though its official and quasi-official organizations such as Qatar Charity, the Qatar Faculty of Islamic Studies, and the Qatar Foundation. Global Muslim Brotherhood leader Youssef Qaradawi and Hamas political leader Khaled Meshaal are also hosted and resident in Qatar which itself is a major funder of Hamas. The GMBDW reported in late August that the Humanitarian Relief Foundation (IHH), a Turkish group close to the Global Muslim Brotherhood, has signed a ‘strategic cooperation agreement’ with Qatar. Earlier this month, we reported that Qatar Charity had sponsored a conference in Istanbul at which GMB leaders announced a $1 billion fundraising campaign for Gaza and the launch of a new organization appearing to unify Hamas fundraising and flotilla efforts. The relocation of a group of Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood leaders and clerics, while clearly a token gesture, does nothing at all to dismantle the significant and growing infrastructure located in Qatar propping up the Global Muslim Brotherhood.
Since that time, In December 2014 we reported on the launch of multiple new Muslim Brotherhood-affiliated TV stations, located mainly in Turkey and said to be financially backed by Qatar. In January of this year we reported on workshops in Gaza and the West Bank initiated by the Qatar Charity in preparation for an international humanitarian summit planned in Istanbul during 2016 and being jointly organized by an office of the UN and a British NGO strongly tied to the Global Muslim Brotherhood.
In addition, also located in Qatar is the Research Center for Islamic Legislation and Ethics (CLIE), headed by Global Muslim Brotherhood leader Tariq Ramadan and which represents a significant alliance with global Brotherhood leader Youssef Qaradawi.