Families of terrorism victims in Egypt legally sue Emir Tamim

CAIRO – 19 June 2018: In an unprecedented move, families of Egyptian victims of terrorist attacks filed a lawsuit against Qatari Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al-Thani, demanding $150 million in compensation, BBC reported on Tuesday.

According to the BBC, this is the first lawsuit of its kind to be filed from residents in an Arab country against an official of another Arab country; the lawsuit is reported to be based on previous judicial rulings that confirm the Qatari regime’s support of the terrorist group operating in Sinai.

The families held the Qatari Emir accountable for the killing of four officers and a civilian during terrorist attacks that previously occurred in Northern Sinai, BBC added.

According to informed sources, "the lawsuit is still awaiting the approval of the higher judicial bodies to be registered in the court," due to the political sensitivity of the issue in light of the diplomatic tussle between Egypt and Qatar.

The lawsuit mentioned the list of the terrorist figures and entities embraced by Qatar; the list was issued by Saudi Arabia, UAE and Bahrain in the wake of the diplomatic boycott launched by the Arab Quartet against Doha in June 2017.

Following the Arab boycott of Doha, a list of 13-demands was handed to Doha’s government by Egypt, Saudi Arabia, the UAE and Bahrain for reconciliation. The demands included closing Al-Jazeera broadcasting and suspending Qatar's cozy relationship with the extremist government of Iran.

Since then, Qatar has resisted reconciliation attempts, and has not shown any efforts to disassociate itself from the terrorist groups proven to be harbored and financially supported by Doha.




However, Qatar placed several people and entities on its terrorism list in March, including several Qatari nationals already blacklisted by the Arab Quartet. Qatar’s issuance of a terror list of 19 individuals and eight entities has done little to impress decision-makers in the four Arab countries.



Since the beginning of the crisis, several countries , including the U.S., Kuwait and France,have been trying to mediate to defuse the tension but to no avail.