Two dead, hundreds ill from food poisoning in Iraqi refugee camp

CAIRO - 13 June 2017: At least two people in the Hassan Sham U2 refugee camp in Erbil died from food poisoning while over 700 people have fallen ill, Iraq’s health minister said on Tuesday.

According to Al Arabiya the governor of Erbil in Iraq, Nozad Hadi, said 825 people were poisoned in the camp due to contaminated meals. He added that 68 cases were treated and seven people were arrested.

Al Arabiya reported that the Qatari charity organization behind the distribution of food at the camp was responsible for the poisoning, however according to the Associated press the United Nations has said it could not be certain at which point in the preparation, packaging, transportation and distribution of the food was contaminated.

Raf Thani is a Qatari non-governmental charity was established 1969. The charity’s name stands for Sheikh Khalid bin Hamad bin Abdullah Al Thani, a former Qatari interior minister.

Raf is accused of having close ties to terrorist groups, and of offering support, money and weapons to militias in Syria using humanitarian aid as a cover.

The relations between Qatar and number of other Arab and gulf states has been strained since May 24, when the Qatari state-run news agency quoted Sheikh Tamim Al Thani, who called the Gulf’s foreign policy towards iran “unwise.”

He also added that the American military base inside his country is “the only protection guarantee” Doha has against “foreign ambitions.”

On 5 June, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Bahrain, Libya and Yemen decided to cut all diplomatic ties with Qatar over allegations that Qatar funds and shelters terrorism. These states closed all ports and airspace to Qatari vessels.