Egypt urged on Thursday the UN Security Council [UNSC] to undertake investigations on charges stipulating that Qatar paid a ransom estimated at one billion dollar to a terrorist group that is active in Iraq as a step to release hostages affiliated to the Qatari ruling family.
Egypt’s call follows the recent cut in diplomatic relations with Qatar, that was also subjected to diplomatic boycott from other Arab countries such as Libya, UAE, Saudi Arabia and Bahrain over charges of supporting terrorism and destabilizing these countries’ national security.
In the wake of the unprecedented Arab diplomatic boycott, Qatar condemned the move by Arab’Gulf countries, saying that charges of supporting terrorism are ‘unfounded’.
Egypt’s call came during a UNSC session in which Egyptian representatives said that if news of the ransom prove to be correct; this would a violation of UNSC resolutions that call on countries not to pay ransom for terrorists to secure the release of hostages.
The UNSC’s call is aiming to prevent any benefit that can reach terrorists whether directly or indirectly through paying ransoms in return for releasing hostages or providing a safe shelter for them.
Meanwhile, the Qatari government repeatedly denied that it paid a ransom to a militant and terrorist group in Iraq to secure the release of 26 Qatari terrorists, among them members of the Qatari ruler family.
The incident dates back to April when 26 Qatari nationals were released after being subjected to a hijacking operation south of Iraq while they were participating in a hunting trip, according to numerous international media outlets.
At that time, several media reports indicated that the Qatari ransom has been addressed to the “Islamic State” (IS) group based in Iraq, which raised questions about authenticity of the hijacking incident.
