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Surprise as Gulf sites continue reporting fake Qatar news

May 25, 2017 at 1:36 pm

Emir of Qatar Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani the Arabic Islamic American Summit in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia on May 21, 2017 [Bandar Algaloud / Saudi Kingdom Council / Handout/Anadolu Agency]

Reuters and Agence France-Presse have expressed their surprise that some Gulf media outlets have continued to report on fake news regarding Qatar Emir, Sheikh Tamim Bin Hamad Al-Thani, despite an official Qatari denunciation of it.

“It was remarkable that some media continued to publish the statements attributed to the Emir of Qatar as well as the tweets published on QNA‘s account, even after an official Qatari confirmation that the statements were fabricated,” Agence France-Presse said in a report.

Reuters said Gulf Arab media outlets continued to publish comments attributed to Al-Thani despite Qatar’s announcement that the reports were baseless.

A government statement said early yesterday: “The Qatar News Agency (QNA) website has been hacked by an unknown entity. A false statement attributed to His Highness has been published.”

On Tuesday, the official Qatari News Agency published statements attributed to Al-Thani in which he purportedly called on Egypt, the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain to reconsider their “anti-Doha” positions.