UAE to host anti-Qatar conference to aid Saudi

The United Arab Emirates has been working to ease the mounting pressure on Saudi Arabia in the murder case of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi by organising an anti-Qatar conference, Henry Forcadis said a blog on Mediapart.

According to Forcadis, the UAE intends to mobilise public opinion against Qatar through an event scheduled to take place tomorrow at the Les Salons Hoche in Paris.

The conference, organised by the Abu Dhabi based TRENDS Research and Advisory Centre, will feature controversial anti-Qatar speakers such as Dr. Ahmed Al Hamli who has previously accused Doha of sponsoring terrorism as well as French journalist, Christian Makarian, who accused Doha of supporting the Muslim Brotherhood.

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Forcadis said more than a year after Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Egypt and Bahrain imposed a siege on Qatar, the war on Doha is no longer confined to the dissemination of false news on social media and has now moved to the field of organising conferences against “the enemy”.

Khashoggi was an outspoken critic of the Saudi government who was last seen on 2 October entering the kingdom’s consulate in Istanbul, Turkey, to pick up paperwork for his upcoming marriage. Turkey says it has proof that Khashoggi was killed in the building, while Saudi – which at first denied any knowledge of his whereabouts – has since admitted he died in a “premediated” attack in the consular building.