Lawyers to form int’l body to sue Qatar before ICC

CAIRO – 1 August 2017: Hafez Abu Saada, chairman of the Egyptian Organization for Human Rights (EOHR) board of trustees, said on July 31 that the organization addressed a number of international professional lawyers to form an international body to sue Qatar before the International Criminal Court (ICC) and receive compensation for its support to terrorism.

"Terrorism has caused huge losses in the victims, injured or damaged facilities, and proof of Qatar's support to terrorism makes it easy to obtain compensation for its support," added Abu Saada.

He pointed out: “Getting compensation from Qatar is not as easy as some may imagine, because the ICC needs documents that condemn Qatar and support terrorism.”
Abu Saada added: “We in the organization have all the papers and documents that prove Qatar's support to terrorism. We also have pictures of the prosecution's investigations confirming the involvement of elements supported by Qatar in several bombings and incidents in Egypt during the past period, including the assassination of former General prosecutor Hisham Barakat. "

Hafez revealed that the organization began to gather attorneys from the victims of terrorism in Sinai and the families of the martyrs killed by the terrorist organizations in the first practical steps to form an Egyptian-Arab legal team to hunt down Qatar and the countries supporting terrorism. The files are due to be submitted to the ICC.

This comes in light of the Egyptian parliament announcing that it will take several steps to obtain financial compensation due to damages incurred from Qatar’s support to terrorism.

Ahmed Al-Awadi, a member of the National Defense and Security Committee in the House of Representatives, said on Monday July 31 that the committee is currently coordinating with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and other concerned parties to escalate against Qatar and obtain financial compensation for damages resulted from its support to terrorism.

Khalid Okasha, head of the National Center for Security Studies, said that state authorities have evidence on Qatar's involvement in supporting terrorist elements inside Egypt with the aim to spread chaos and instability within the Egyptian society.

On July 10, a

report

released by the state’s Information and Decision Support Center (IDSC) highlight Egyptians’ suffering from terrorist attacks, which enjoyed Qatari support, and the subsequent shedding blood of hundreds of Egyptian souls. Egypt has filed a complaint against Qatar before the United Nations Security Council, labeling the oil-rich country a “terrorism supporting state.” The complaint is to be referred to the International Criminal Court (ICC).

On the other hand, the Libyan Justice Ministry intends to file a request to the ICC to open an investigation into alleged Qatari support of terrorist groups in Libyan territories. The Libyan Parliament instructed the Libyan Justice Ministry to prepare an integrated file on the damage caused to the country due to Qatar's support of terrorist groups and extremists to destabilize the country, as confirmed in a statement made on June 5.

Libya accused Qatar of supporting and funding terrorism in the country since the overthrow of former Libyan President Muammar Gaddafi in 2011. The Parliament called on the UN Security Council, the ICC and all human rights organizations to open an investigation into the Qatari intervention in the country.

From its side, Qatar tried attributing statements in which ICC prosecutor Fatou Bensouda is allegedly condemning the Gulf boycott on Qatar, but the ICC has denied allegations made by Qatari media outlets, Al Arabiya News Channel reported.

“The Public Prosecutor’s Office is concerned about the legal aspects of crimes related to the jurisdiction of the International Criminal Court and makes no political statements,” an official at ICC told an Al Arabiya News Channel’s correspondent in Brussels.

Also a coalition for Qatari opposition has been formed in the Swiss capital, Sheikha Noor bint Ahmed Al-Thani said on June 6. And the coalition formed a national salvation government which seeks to “restore the unity of the Arabs” that Thani says was disrupted by the current Qatari regime in 1972 when it seized power in a coup against the “legitimate ruler.”

Thani said that she will act to reinstate the power of members of the Al-Ahmed family.

Thani is set to present a memorandum to the General Prosecutor of the ICC on the crimes that were committed by Tamim bin Hamad bin Khalifa bin Hamad bin Abdullah, Hamad bin Khalifa bin Hamad bin Abdullah and Hamad bin Jassim bin Jabr bin Mohammed. This falls under the jurisdiction of the Court in support of Article 5 of the primary law of the ICC for 1998.


Qatar’s relations with several Arab states have been strained since May 24 over a leaked statement attributed to Qatari Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad, criticizing Gulf foreign policy with Iran, describing it as “unwise”.

The Qatari Emir’s remarks against Egypt, Bahrain, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) prompted the major Arab powers to adopt urgent and strict measures towards Doha.

The Qatari crisis escalated when the Arab quartet, along with Yemen and Libya, announced a coordinated diplomatic break with Qatar. They also closed their airspace and seaports to Qatari transportation.