Qatar denies Egyptian abruptly arrested right to an attorney

CAIRO – 21 December 2019: Sources within the tiny Gulf emirate of Qatar have said Qatari authorities have denied an Egyptian national who got abruptly arrested the right to an attorney.

Two Egyptians who have been working for state-funded Al-Jazeera network were arrested, according to Egyptian reports, as they were allegedly funded by Abu Hashima to help establish an Egyptian platform that is alternative to beIN Sports.

The accused Egyptians include Ali Salem, a director for the technical sector in beIN sports, which is a subsidiary of Al-Jazeera media network, and Waleed Abdel Aziz.

Finally, after approving a one-hour meeting with an attorney, the visitation got suspended after only five minutes.

Egyptian businessman Ahmed Abu Hashima denounced the arrest of the two Egyptians over charges of spying for Egypt and Saudi Arabia to help the piracy of Qatar's beIN Sports TV network.

Abu Hashima, in an interview with TV presenter Amr Adib on Saturday, said the indictment of Ali Salem over espionage charges proves that Al-Jazeera network is a "military intelligence organization" rather than a commercial civilian one.

"I work in a professional manner and use the best human cadres in my job, and I knew that sports channels are the locomotive to promote the media system as a whole, and tried to provide a distinctive sports media service for the Egyptian people," Abu Hashima said, referring to ON Sport channel.

Abu Hashima called Engineer Ali Salem as one of the "most prominent Egyptian cadres," who was asked by the Egyptian TV to participate in the establishment of the sports channel linked to Al-Jazeera, saying that over 16 years of work, he became one of the most important cadres in the station.

An Egyptian-British legal team, along with the International Labor Organization (ILO) and a number of human rights organizations, are filing lawsuits against Qatar and beiN Sports, to demand the release of the accused Egyptians.

Moreover, a complaint will be submitted against Qatar at the Human Rights Council regarding the arrest and disappearance of two Egyptian citizens by the Qatari authorities for a period of seven months, without trial or charges.