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Egypt called for the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) on Thursday to launch an investigation into accusations that Qatar paid one billion US dollars as ransom money to an unnamed terrorist group in Iraq, in exchange for releasing kidnapped members of the royal family.
The new development adds an extra layer to the ongoing diplomatic crisis Qatar is facing after Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Bahrain and Egypt severed ties and cut land, sea and air traffic with the small peninsula accusing it of funding and supporting terrorism as well as destabilizing the region.
Egypt said it has evidence about Qatar’s supporting terrorist groups.
Nail Zaki, board member of socialist Tagamo party, said there are video tapes and documents that prove the contact exists between Qatar and terrorist entities.
“Some evidence have been delivered to UN meetings in Geneva,” Zaki told CGTN reporter Yasser Hakim, noting that since the ousting of Libyan President Muammar Gaddafi, Qatar has not stopped supporting terrorist groups and attacking its civilians in order to divide the nation.
During a UN Security Council session on Thursday, a senior Egyptian UN diplomat said the ransom, if proven to have been paid, would be a violation of resolutions passed by the UNSC.
A lot of questions have been raised when one billion US dollars were reportedly paid in one incident, according to US reports, when terrorist groups have netted just over 250 million US dollars of ransom money in the last seven years.
Earlier in June, leaked documents suggested Qatar paid at least one billion US dollars to a militant group in Iraq to release 26 Qataris who had been captured during a falcon hunting trip. The Qataris, including members of the country’s ruling royal family, were released in April 2016.
(CGTN)
