Tamim freezes bank accounts of opposition, vindicates himself

CAIRO – 21 September 2017: The Qatari regime witnessed heightened backlash rising from inside the ruling family, pushing Doha’s emir to respond by taking new repressive actions against opposition leaders.

Qatari opposition said on social media that Tamim bin Hamad Al-Thani froze the bank accounts of two ruling family members; Sheikh Abdullah bin Ali Al-Thani and Sultan bin Suhaim Al-Thani, who have shown huge criticism to Tamim’s policies lately.

Qatari opposition members have taken further steps to voice their concerns and show their refusal of the Qatari regime’s policies with its neighboring Arab countries. Opposing voices to Qatari regime have even grown at home.

Sheikh Abdullah bin Ali Al-Thani issued a statement on Sunday published on his official Twitter account calling on the country's ruling family to do all it can to resolve the crisis with its neighbors and "purge our land" from any links to terrorist organizations.

Qatar’s Sheikh Suhaim Al-Thani said in a video message broadcasted on Sky News Arabia that he “hopes the ruling family and dignitaries respond to the invitation for a national meeting.”

Qatari opposition called for appointing Abdullah bin Ali as Tamim’s successor.

Since Saudi Arabia, Egypt, United Arab Emirates, and Bahrain have cut ties with Qatar in June accusing it of funding terrorism, Qatar has been isolated from the rest of the world as the Arab Quartet banned Qatari flights and closed shipping lanes and lands.

To raise that blockade, Tamim should implement the 13 demands issued by Saudi Arabia, which included shutting Al-Jazeera channel as well as dropping its support of the Muslim Brotherhood, but Tamim refuses to respond to those demands.

Consequently, the Qatari economy has been damaged by the blockade as Qatari imports were majorly affected by the trade boycott from neighboring countries, and the United Arab Emirates’ exports to Doha slumped 64.5 percent month-on-month in June.
Besides, deposits of non-Qatari residents dropped 7.6 percent to QAR 170.6 billion ($47 billion) in 18 banks in June from a month earlier, according to the Qatar Central Bank.

However, Tamim denied his country’s economic crisis and the Qatari Minister of Economy Ahmed bin Jassim Al-Thani said during an interview with CNBC that the blockade has had a limited impact on the economy stressing that Qatar's economy is a “heaven” despite the blockade.

Tamim’s stance towards the crisis and its consequences has led to a long running feud in the Qatari royal family and pitting its members against each other. That’s why, statements from the Qatari royal family members state their objection and refusal to the Qatari regime’s policies with its neighboring Arab countries, in addition to its sheltering of terrorists and extremists groups.