Belgium protests against UAE allegations about officials

The Belgian authorities have lodged official protests against a defamation campaign by the UAE against officials in Brussels, Arabi21.com reported on Sunday. The UAE claims that the officials belong to the Muslim Brotherhood.

According to several European news outlets, said Arabi21.com, the UAE recruited a Swiss lobby group to get information about certain figures across Europe that proves their affiliation to the movement, which is outlawed in the Gulf state. The lobby group Alp apparently traced hundreds of European figures, including 160 Belgians, revealed local news network rtbf.

The government in Brussels summoned the UAE ambassador for talks about this on Saturday. “We asked for full explanations,” said Belgium’s Foreign Ministry. It added that it denounces the “unjustified hints” such as those which have been levelled at Environment Minister Zakia Khattabi.

Khattabi is of Moroccan origin. She was accused by Alp of being a member of the Brotherhood, a Shia and a prominent activist in Europe. Belgian media denied this.

In her own statement, Khattabi expressed her astonishment about “the false and fictional allegations.” She stressed that “this is a dangerous situation” as such firms open their hands to work in Europe and are ready to build their data banks from zero.

The report also mentioned other Belgian figures, including Fouad Gandoul and Fatima Zibouh, who also denied any relationship with the Muslim Brotherhood.

Alp was commissioned to prepare the report during the crisis when the UAE, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain and Egypt united in a boycott against Qatar between 2017 and 2021.

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