Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani – CC via Flickr/U.S. Department of State
CAIRO – 6 Aug 2017: Social media users on Twitter have labeled Qatari’s Foreign Minister Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al-Thani on Sunday as the Qatari version of “Al-Sahaf,” referring to Muhammad Saeed al-Sahaf, who was a minister of information during late Iraqi President Saddam Hussien as he was known for “unrealistic statements.”
In April 2003, Sahaf stated false news about the Iraqi military achievements against the U.S. troops, but the American troops invaded Baghdad on the same day he stated his remarks.
Similarly, the social media users highlighted Al-Thani’s contradictory statements during the Gulf rift with Qatar.
Four Arab countries (Egypt, the UAE, Bahrain, and Saudi Arabia) have boycotted their relations with Qatar over its “support to terrorist groups.”
Al-Thani announced that his country has not been affected by the boycott; however, sanctions imposed by four Gulf states affected Qatar's imports as the isolation forced the country to look for new routes via Turkey and Iran despite being more expensive, to secure its needs of food, building materials and equipment, which are necessary for World Cup 2022.
Sanctions include imposing aviation and maritime ban on the Qatari transportations; also, the Arab countries named dozens of individuals and institutions “terrorist entities,” asking Doha for embracing 13 demands to ease the crisis.
Al-Thani also claimed that the Qatari citizens will not be affected by this boycott, despite the fact that 6,000 citizens are affected; thousands of trucks carrying food stuffs were stopped at the Qatari border, creating panic from consumers as Qatar imports the vast majority of food, largely from surrounding nations like Saudi Arabia and the UAE.
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