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Qatar, a key U.S. ally within the Persian Gulf, is dealing with elevated scrutiny over its alleged monetary ties to terrorism in a lawsuit from kinfolk of a slain American journalist and a separate federal investigation right into a member of the nation’s royal household.
The household of Steven Sotloff alleged in a federal lawsuit Friday that outstanding Qatari establishments wired $800,000 to an Islamic State “decide” who ordered the homicide of Sotloff and one other American journalist, James Foley. The 2 have been beheaded in Syria in 2014, their killings filmed and printed in grisly propaganda movies.
“We need to do all the pieces we will to verify no different household has to undergo what we’ve got suffered,” the Sotloff household stated in a press release explaining their lawsuit.
Individually, federal prosecutors have been investigating potential ties between terror teams and Khalid bin Hamad Al-Thani, the half-brother of Qatar’s ruling emir, in line with paperwork reviewed by The Related Press and interviews with two folks conversant in the investigation.
A grand jury investigation, run out of the Southern District of New York, has targeted partly on whether or not Khalid Al Thani supplied cash and provides to Al Nusra, al-Qaeda’s department in Syria, stated the 2 folks. They spoke on situation of anonymity as a result of they weren’t approved to debate the matter publicly.
Qatar has loved a powerful relationship with the Biden administration. The world’s wealthiest nation per capita performed a key position in evacuations from Afghanistan and its big provides of pure fuel may assist maintain Europe’s vitality markets amid Russia’s battle in Ukraine. Qatar may additionally play a vital position in President Joe Biden’s bid to revive a nuclear cope with Iran.
The Qatari Embassy stated it wanted extra info earlier than it may remark concerning the reported investigation, and didn’t instantly touch upon the lawsuit.
Earlier this yr, Biden designated Qatar a serious non-NATO ally, a transfer that might be useful within the nation’s bid to get U.S. approval for a greater than $500 million sale of MQ-9 Reaper drones. Qatar is dwelling to the biggest U.S. Air Pressure base within the Gulf.
“Qatar is an effective pal and a dependable accomplice,” Biden stated in January whereas internet hosting Qatar’s ruling emir, Tamim bin Hamad Al-Thani, on the White Home.
However Qatar, which was one of many strongest worldwide backers of the riot towards Syrian President Bashar Assad, has lengthy confronted criticism from some U.S. officers for permitting or encouraging funding of extremists teams in Syria, in addition to for its direct and oblique assist of the Muslim Brotherhood and Hamas.
Qatar has stated it condemns terrorism, however officers have additionally conceded its efforts could have helped the flawed folks.
“Look, in Syria, everyone did errors, together with your nation,” Hamad bin Jassim Al-Thani, Qatar’s former prime minister and international minister, stated in a 2017 interview with American journalist Charlie Rose. He added that Qatar had by no means deliberately funded extremists teams in Syria and had reduce off funding to any group it discovered had one other “agenda.”
Attorneys for the Sotloff household stated within the lawsuit that Qatari officers both “knew or recklessly ignored” the truth that the Islamic State terrorists they have been allegedly funding would goal Individuals for kidnapping, torture and homicide.
International nations and authorities officers can’t sometimes be sued in U.S. courts. However the U.S. Anti-Terrorism Act permits terror victims to hunt damages from personal entities related to governments. The Sotloff swimsuit’s defendants, Qatar Charity and Qatar Nationwide Financial institution, are alleged to have knowingly facilitated funding to terror teams.
Particularly, the lawsuit says the charity and the financial institution supplied $800,000 to Fadel al Salim, which he allegedly smuggled into Syria from Turkey after which used to kind a “brigade of Islamic State fighters” and develop into a “sharia decide.”
The Sotloff criticism stated al Salim signed the “Authorized Retribution Verdict” ordering the deaths of Foley and Sotloff in addition to led a convoy that transported the pair from one jail in Raqqa, Syria, to the city the place they have been slain.
Representatives for Qatar Charity and Qatar Nationwide Financial institution didn’t instantly reply to requests for remark.
The present whereabouts of al Salim are unknown. However U.S. prosecutors have made vital progress in separate prison circumstances towards two of the British Islamic State militants liable for the killings of Sotloff and three different American captives.
Alexanda Kotey was sentenced lately in federal court docket in Alexandria, Virginia, to life in jail. El Shafee Elsheikh, who was convicted in a jury trial final month, additionally faces life imprisonment when he’s sentenced in August.
Kotey and Elsheikh have been a part of a cell of British militants identified by their captors as “the Beatles” due to their accents. They have been captured in Syria in 2018 and transferred to the U.S. in 2020 for prison prosecution after Legal professional Basic William Barr agreed to take the dying penalty off the desk.
One other militant, Mohammed Emwazi — referred to as “Jihadi John” — was killed in a U.S. drone strike in 2015 and a fourth was arrested in Turkey.
Sotloff, Foley and Peter Kassig have been beheaded as a part of propaganda movies launched by IS in 2014 whereas Kayla Mueller was tortured and raped by Islamic State chief Abu Bakr Al-Baghdadi earlier than she was killed. The hostage-taking additionally resulted within the killings of British and Japanese captives, officers have stated.
“We’re ceaselessly damaged by the lack of our beloved son, and outlined because the folks from a horror film,” mom Shirley Sotloff stated on the Kotey sentencing listening to.
The Sotloff lawsuit, filed in West Palm Seaside, Florida, doesn’t disclose how info within the criticism was obtained. Nevertheless it does embrace a high-level of element, corresponding to a selected checking account quantity, passages from a handwritten assertion acknowledging funds and Islamic State judicial data.
The lawsuit additionally alleges Qatari royal relations and authorities officers labored with the Muslim Brotherhood and Turkish intelligence to fund extremist teams in Syria with the goal of undermining the Assad regime.
Comparable allegations of outstanding Qataris funding terrorist teams have been made in two ongoing lawsuits filed in London on behalf of Syrian refugees.
Ben Emmerson, a London-based lawyer representing the refugees, stated there’s clear proof American officers have chosen to show a blind eye to Qatar’s terror financing in Syria as a result of the U.S. wants Qatar’s assist in different areas.
“That is realpolitik in motion,” he stated.
One of many London lawsuits alleges that Qatar Nationwide Financial institution board members made hawala funds — a casual cash switch system — on to Al Nusra, al-Qaeda’s department in Syria. These embrace transfers, in line with the lawsuit, by the emir’s half-brother, Khalid Al Thani. He beforehand served on the board of Qatar Nationwide Financial institution.
It’s unclear if these funds are a part of the grand jury investigation involving Khalid Al-Thani, which is a minimum of a yr previous. Prosecutors from the Southern District of New York declined to remark.
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Suderman reported from Richmond, Virginia. Eric Tucker contributed from Washington.
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