September 11, 2018 By The Editor

The leaked UAE Qatar emails spiralling consequences

The dispute between Qatar and the Gulf’s Arab countries escalated after a recent hack of Qatar’s state-run news agency.

Following the Qatar emails hacking, comments falsely attributed to Qatar’s emir, Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani, were broadcast in Qatar.

Qatar’s government categorically denied that the comments, in which the country’s leader expressed support for Iran, Hamas, Hezbollah and Israel – while suggesting that US President Donald Trump may not last in power, – were ever made.

The consequences of the leaked UAE, Qatar emails has spiralled since.

“There are international laws governing such crimes, especially the cyberattack. [The hackers] will be prosecuted according to the law,” Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani, Qatar’s foreign minister, said on Wednesday.

UAE-based Sky News Arabia and Al Arabiya kept running the discredited story, despite the Qatari denials.

Nevertheless, the hacking disputes backfired to UAE, too and plenty of damaging leaked UAE Qatar emails camed out in the meantime.

Leaked UAE, Qatar emails: UAE, pro-Israel think tank plan meeting on Qatar, Al Jazeera

Some, obtained by the shadowy hacker group Global Leaks, and distributed to Western media organisations such as the New York Times, Huffington Post and The Intercept, have led to several revelations regarding the ambassador and the UAE’s lobbying efforts in Washington.

According to Global Leaks, the emails were obtained from a paid whistle-blower in a Washington DC lobbying group and were first made public on 2 June after some were sent to the Daily Beast.

The leaked UAE, Qatar emails are just the latest in a string of leaked emails taken from the professional Hotmail email account of the UAE ambassador to the US, Otaiba. Otaiba is a well-known figure in the US capital, where he has been the ambassador since 2008.

One disclosure showed that companies linked to the ambassador received $66 million from offshore accounts that contained money allegedly embezzled from a Malaysian investment fund.

Other leaks highlighted Emirati attempts to harm Qatar’s international image and showed a close relationship between Otaiba and a pro-Israel, neoconservative think-tank.

Leaked emails also show the Emiratis wanted to host in Abu Dhabi the unofficial Taliban embassy situated in Doha, too.

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Source: Al Jazeera

Pictures by: Pixabay