Qatar to sue countries imposing blockade

Qatar’s economic and trade ministry has announced that both Qatari and non-Qatari companies in Qatar will prosecute the countries imposing the blockade, namely Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Bahrain and Egypt, DPA reported yesterday.

Both Saudi Arabia and the UAE have blocked exports to Qatar so it is relying on food to be imported by plane.

According to Al Jazeera the Qatari ministry issued a statement which said that Minister of Economy and Trade Sheikh Bin Jassim Al-Thani has met several heads of economic and commercial international groups in Geneva to discuss the “arbitrary measures” taken by the quartet.

The statement added: “Qatar [has] signed a deal with a legal office specialised in global trade in order to study the illegal measures taken by the blockade countries.”

Read: Qatar seeks compensation following Saudi-led siege

Defence Minister Khalid Bin Mohamed Al-Attiyeh has said that Qatar could seek compensation through the International Court of Justice (ICJ):

“Qatar faces the same situation that Nicaragua faced in the 1980s and it succeeded to get full compensation through the International Court of Justice.”

In 1985 then US president Ronald Reagan prohibited all trade between Nicaragua and the US. In 1986 the ICJ declared the trade embargo to be in violation of international law.

#QatarGate

Al-Attiya added: “The current Gulf crisis is [terrible] and it could be classified as an attempt to carry out a coup,” stressing that the accusations against Qatar and its Emir Tamim Bin Hamad Al-Thani are “incorrect and false”.