At a time when all parties involved in the GCC dispute should be cooperating with the Kuwaiti mediation efforts rather than further escalating tensions in the region, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA) released a sudden and unfounded press release on 7 September 2019 that continues to regurgitate the oft repeated false allegations against the State of Qatar. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs in the State of Qatar finds itself obliged to respond to this attempt at twisting the truth, and the release of self-serving and untrue statements.
KSA’s statement alleges that the coercive measures imposed on Qatar and Qataris merely constitute a cutting of diplomatic and consular ties. However, in reality, KSA’s unlawful coercive measures have been directed at both Qatar and its people, including closing all land, air and sea borders, expelling Qataris from Saudi Arabia with no basis, including the mass expulsion of Qatari pilgrims during the holy month of Ramadan, and continuing to unlawfully discriminate against Qatar and Qataris in every way possible. In addition, despite KSA’s claims that it welcomes Qataris to enter the country, several incidents of enforced disappearance of Qatari citizens have been reported including the most recent disappearance of a father and son documented by the National Human Rights Committee in Qatar as per the Committee’s Statement No. 6 of 2019, upon which Amnesty International on the 3 September 2019 called upon the KSA authorities to reveal their whereabouts. It is also unfortunate that KSA insists on reiterating the same baseless accusations around the alleged support of terrorism by Qatar, a country that hosts the Global Coalition Against Daesh, and is a founding member of the Riyadh-based Terrorist Financing Targeting Center (TFTC) established in May 2017, one month before the imposition of the unlawful measures referred to in KSA’s statement.