Qatar to take legal action against Gulf states

Qatari groups said Saturday they will take legal action against a number of Gulf states that have issued a blockade against the country.

The head of Qatar’s National Human Rights Committee (NHRC) Ali bin Smaikh Al Marri said his organisation would hire an international law firm to address damages the blockade has caused to citizens of the Gulf Cooperation Council.

The moves by the Gulf states amounts to a “collective punishment and international crime”, Al Marri said at a press conference.

Saudi Arabia, Egypt, the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain and Yemen on Monday cut diplomatic ties with Qatar, accusing Doha of supporting terrorism. They also imposed a land, sea, and air blockade.

A joint declaration on Thursday accused 59 individuals and 12 charity groups in Qatar of being “linked to terror”.

Qatar’s Regulatory Authority for Charitable Activities (RACA), one of the accused organisations, condemned the accusations in a written statement.

RACA said legal action would be taken to protect the humanitarian working area and some of the blacklisted organizations have never faced such accusations from any of the more than 70 countries they have operated in.

Several organizations on the list have been praised for their development projects and humanitarian work with the UN, RACA added.

Separately, Saudi Arabia’s King Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud ordered affected families that are citizens of Qatar and Saudi Arabia will be given humanitarian aid, the Saudi Press Agency said Saturday.