Qatar Reportedly Paid 'Billion Dollar Ransom' to Terrorists - Largest in History

[yota691]

EGYPT CALLS FOR U.N. INQUIRY INTO ACCUSATION OF QATAR RANSOM PAYMENT

 

 

2 days ago

 

SULAIMANI - Egypt on Thursday (June 8) called for the United Nations Security Council to launch an investigation into accusations that Qatar paid a ransom of up to $1 billion to "a terrorist group active in Iraq" to release kidnapped members of its royal family.

Bahrain, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, the UAE and several other countries severed diplomatic and transport ties with Doha on Monday, accusing it of supporting Islamist militants and their arch-foe Iran, charges Qatar says are baseless.

Qatar has denied trying to pay ransom money to secure the release of 26 Qataris, including members of the country's ruling royal family, abducted in Iraq by unidentified gunmen. The Qataris were released in April, some 18 months after they were abducted during a hunting trip in southern Iraq.

"It is everywhere in the news that Qatar paid up to $1 billion to a terrorist group active in Iraq in order to release members of its royal family," senior Egyptian U.N. diplomat Ihab Moustafa Awad Moustafa told the Security Council.

"This violation of the Security Council resolutions, if proved correct, shall definitely have a negative bearing on counter-terrorism efforts on the ground," he said. "We propose that the council launch a comprehensive investigation into this incident and other similar incidents."

Qatar's mission to the United Nations was not immediately available for comment on Egypt's call for an inquiry.

U.N. Security Council resolutions call on states "to prevent terrorists from benefiting directly or indirectly from ransom payments or from political concessions and to secure the safe release of hostages."

"We also want to know how the Security Council can address such violations, these flagrant violations of its resolutions," Moustafa said.

United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres is ready to support any diplomatic efforts to resolve tensions between Qatar and other Gulf Arab states "if desired by all parties," his spokesman said on Thursday.

(Reuters)

[yota691]

JUNE 11, 2017

 "Flexible" relations between Qatar and the Government of Iraq and a joint search for "decent settlement" to the dispute over the fate of "half a billion" dollars confiscated when receiving the hostages ..bgdad recorded under the category of "money laundering" and Doha has been donated for the reconstruction of areas liberated from Daesh

 

 Day-Baghdad opinion special LONDON

Despite the busy Gulf crisis, the recent Iraqi authorities began conducting contacts with the Qatari government, the fate of the target amount of money was confiscated at Baghdad airport on freeing kidnapped from the ruling family group margin in Doha.

 The learned opinion today that the two parties are currently discussing a settlement on this amount that has raised a lot of hype.

 The amount was loaded, which is a half billion dollars, 23 bag according to the newspaper Vinnachal Times.

 But the Baghdad government confiscated the money and there is nothing to prove that he intended the same amount, which says the British press that the cause of the crisis between Saudi Arabia and Qatar and push for extremist groups in Syria and Iran, accused of terrorism in exchange for freeing hostages Qataris and other prisoners from the Lebanese Hezbollah.

 The learned opinion today that the Iraqi Finance Ministry seized a half billion dollars, officially recorded by the minutes of a legal within the confiscated funds category under "money laundering" to be resolved self-determination, a measure opposed by the Qatari embassy in Baghdad on the grounds that the amount can not be registered within this framework, which belonged to the Government of Qatar was in a Qatari plane.

 The parties may reach a settlement removes document the amount of resources within the money laundering category ever recorded within the direct financial support to a charity Iraqi rebuild projects in areas that have been liberated from the organization Daesh, an option could be for Doha, according to preliminary information be approved where the agreement satisfies both parties and exempts the Iraqi side of embarrassment.

 It is likely that President Haydar al-Abadi government flexibility shown in cooperation with Qatar in this regard with the support and guidance from the Iranian government, where Baghdad does not want to intervene in the crisis against Qatar after al-Abadi said that it is an internal matter, saying that his country does not interfere with the internal affairs of neighboring countries.

And got some breakthroughs in between Qatar Telecom and the Government of Iraq during the few days that the adoption of the siege of Qatar has been in, which is believed to be a matter of half billion outstanding might benefit from it.

[yota691]

Iraq says the country still retains the funds that were sent to free hostages

Political

 Since 06/11/2017 21:47 am (Baghdad time)

Follow-up to the balance of News

Iraq said he still has hundreds of millions of dollars sent by Qatar for the release of members of the ruling family in April after the abduction in 2015.

The press reports have indicated that some of the money ended up in Iran, angering Saudi Arabia and other Gulf Arab states and contributed to the decision to sever ties with Qatar.

However, Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi said in comments broadcast on state television on Sunday that the funds in the central bank in Baghdad, pending a decision on what to be working out.

"These funds are still at the secretariats of the Central Bank of Iraq ... has not paid them one dollar and euro ... in which euros and where dollars (money is still) under its funds (supervision) of the Commission came up to two represent the Qatari government ... and put the secretariats Central Bank of Iraq ... has not acted. "

He added without elaborating that the decision on how to dispose of the money "has a political side and the legal side and take into account Monday claimed to fit Iraqi law."

The Abadi said in April that authorities seized bags containing hundreds of millions of dollars in private Qatari plane landed in Baghdad. He pointed out that the money is part of a deal to free hostages Qataris without the consent of Baghdad.

The kidnapping of the twenty-six hostages, including members of the ruling family in Qatar, during a fishing trip in northern Iraq in 2015. It was not clear how it was negotiated release.

No one has claimed responsibility for the kidnapping, which occurred in an area near the border with Saudi Arabia, dominated by Shiite armed factions close to Iran.

is over

M h n 

[yota691]

Abadi: we did not spend one dollar from country funds

Publication date: 11.06.2017 | Are GMT 17:44 |

Last Updated: 11.06.2017 | Are GMT 18:39 |

 

 

Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi said that his country still retains hundreds of millions of dollars sent by Qatar for the release of members of the Qatari royal family kidnapped in Iraq.

He noted Abadi, in remarks broadcast on state television on Sunday that the funds in the central bank in Baghdad, pending a decision on what to do, where he said: "one dollar not spent, or euros .. the money is still in its funds, and supervised by the Commission "explaining that the two representatives of the Qatari government came to check when deposited under the tutelage of the Central Bank.

He added that the decision on how to dispose of the money "has a political side and another legal and will be made in accordance with Iraqi law."

The Iraqi prime minister announced last April, set the bags inside hundreds of millions of dollars on a private jet country landed in Baghdad, expressing his belief that the money is part of an agreement to liberate the Qatari hostages without the knowledge of Baghdad.

The press reports earlier that part of that money came to Iran, which has angered Saudi Arabia and its allies, and contributed to its decision to cut off close ties with Doha.

The hostages were kidnapped of 26 hostages, including members of the ruling royal family in Qatar, during a fishing trip in southern Iraq in 2015. It is not yet clear how they were negotiating the release. No one has claimed responsibility for the abductions that occurred near the Saudi border area.

Source: Reuters.com

Ali Jaafar

[SnowGlobe7]

dear Goodness I hope it was not stolen by Maliki or his associates...if so Iraq may be in a world of hurt

[Butifldrm]

Qatar Reportedly Paid 'Billion Dollar Ransom' to Terrorists - Largest in History

 

BBC reveals voicemails and text messages that purport to verify that the Qataris paid $1bn in order to secure the release of hostages held in Iraq from 2015 to 2017

 

Jul 19, 2018 12:43 PM

 

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On December 16th, 2015, 28 members of the Qatari royal hunting party were kidnapped in Iraq. They had gone falcon hunting, despite warnings not to travel to Iraq.

On Monday, the BBC reported a government hostile to Qatar leaked a series of texts and voicemails between the ambassador of Qatar to Iraq, Zayed al-Khayareen, and the foreign minister, Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman, which shed new light on the ransom payment.

The BBC's new evidence points to the ransom being paid by the Qataris to terrorist organisations - a claim Qatar, which is under scrutiny for funding terrorism, vehemently denies.

The Qatari government insists that the money paid went to the Iraqi government for development and funding and to safeguard the return of the hostages.

Qatar reportedly identified the kidnappers as Kataib Hezbollah, a para-military group, funded by Iran. In March 2016, the group started making their demands - they wanted money, though how much at the time was not apparent.

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As time went on, the kidnappers kept increasing their demands. Not only did they want cash, but the mediators soon started demanding Rolexes, and side-money. What for, the Qataris still do not know. The BBC report claims it may have been for the mediators themselves, or in order to "grease the kidnappers' palms."

One of the negotiators asked for $10 million for his efforts in the negotiation process.

Kataib Hezbollah, under the patronage of Iranian General Qasem Soleimani also started demanding the removal of Qatari forces from Yemen, the release of Iranian prisoners held in Syria.

One of the demands, key to the eventual release of the hostages, was the "four towns agreement". This was a plan to remove the populations of two Sunni towns in a Shi'a held region of Syria, and the population of two Shi'a towns in the Sunni held region. The deal resulted in the eventual population swap of thousands of people.

Furthermore, the leaked tapes make mention of the sum of $1bn, and an additional $150 million. The government that leaked the tapes believes that this was the necessary part of the deal. 

The transcripts were first leaked to the Washington Post in April 2018. The government which leaked the transcripts waited for the Qataris to deny the claims, before leaking the audio recordings to the BBC in order to embarrass them.

While the Qatari government accepts that the tapes are real, they assert that they were heavily edited and tampered with in order to paint Qatar in the worst light possible.

The hostage situation ended in April 2017, 16 months after the kidnapping. Qatar Airways flew Qatari emissaries with 23 bags filled with cash to Iraq. After a standoff at the airport, the Iraqi government seized the cash. However the hostages were still released.

The hostages were released despite the no-show on the cash. This was tied to the "four towns agreement" which had gone ahead.

Shortly after, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, and the United Arab Emirates started their blockade of Qatar, citing that they had a long history of financing terrorism.

The BBC reports that the mystery remains unsolved. The Qataris remain adamant that the cash is in Iraqi central bank vaults, whereas the anti-Qatari faction purports that the Iraqi government inserted themselves into the hostage situation and distributed the money.

https://www.haaretz.com/middle-east-news/did-qatar-pay-the-biggest-ransom-in-history-to-terrorist-groups-1.6290726

[Butifldrm]

JUNE 11, 2017 / 12:18 PM / A YEAR AGO

Iraq says it still has Qatari money sent to free ruling family members

Reuters Staff

2 MIN READ

 

BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Iraq still has hundreds of millions of dollars sent by Qatar to secure the release in April of members of the Qatari ruling family abducted in 2015, Iraq’s prime minister said on Sunday.

Press reports had suggested some of the money had ended up in Iran, angering Saudi Arabia and the other Gulf Arab neighbors of Qatar and contributing to their decision to severe ties with Doha.

However, Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi said in comments broadcast on state TV on Sunday that the money was in the central bank in Baghdad, pending a decision on what to do with it.

“Not one dollar, or euro (...) was spent; they are still in their crates, supervised by a committee, and two representatives of the Qatari government came to check when they were deposited under the trusteeship of the central bank,” he said.

The decision on how to dispose of the money “has a political aspect and has a legal aspect, it will be taken in conformity with Iraqi law,” he said, without elaborating.

The prime minister said in April authorities had seized suitcases containing hundreds of millions of dollars on a private Qatari jet that landed in Baghdad. He suggested the funds were part of a deal to free the Qatari hostages without Baghdad’s approval.

The 26 hostages, including members of Qatar’s ruling royal family, were abducted during a hunting trip in southern Iraq in 2015. It is unclear how their release was negotiated.

No one claimed responsibility for the abductions, which took place near a Saudi border area dominated by Shi’ite militias close to Iran.

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-mideast-crisis-iraq-qatar/iraq-says-it-still-has-qatari-money-sent-to-free-ruling-family-members-idUSKBN1920Y5

[Butifldrm]

2018-07-19 BY SOTALIRAQ

 

Qatar: ransom of kidnapped fishermen deposited with the Central Bank of Iraq

 

Qatar has not paid money to terrorist groups to release the kidnappers, the Qatari daily Al-Sharq reported, quoting an official source in the Qatari government. 
The official added that his country "dealt with the Iraqi government, which was a party to the process, was deposited in the Central Bank of Iraq by the Iraqi prime minister Haider Abadi," according to the newspaper "East". 
"Qatar has previously taken care to bring funds to Iraq in a formal, clear and public manner to support the efforts of the Iraqi authorities to release the Qatari abductees. These funds were not smuggled in. The Qatari kidnappers were officially issued visas and were under the protection of the Iraqi security authorities when they were Kidnapping them, and this is confirmed by Abbadi that the Qatari funds are located in the Central Bank in Baghdad and deal with the subject legally.
The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) published a report entitled "Has Qatar paid the largest ransom in history to free the kidnapped princes in Iraq," in which the issue of Qatari citizens who were kidnapped in Iraq in 2015, based on documents that indicate the involvement of Qatar in support of groups Terrorist attacks. 
The story concludes that 100 armed men aboard dozens of SUVs abducted 28 members of the ruling family who were participating in a fishing trip in southern Iraq on 16 December 2015. 
According to the report, Qatar paid a ransom of $ 1 billion to release the hostages, This amount is groups and people the United States calls "terrorists". 
The BBC said that the party that provided it with the documents it used in this report was "an anti-Qatar government."

https://www.sotaliraq.com/2018/07/19/قطر-فدية-الصيادين-المختطفين-اودعت-بال/

[Butifldrm]

Iraq: Qatari 'ransom' money with us, not armed groups

PM Abadi refutes UAE and Saudi media claims that Qatar paid ransom money to Shia groups to free kidnapped hunters.

11 Jun 2017

 

Iraq's prime minister has rejected Saudi and UAE media claims that a $500m ransom was paid by Qatar to Shia Muslim armed groups in Iraq to secure the release of 26 kidnapped Qatari hunters, saying that the money was received by the government of Iraq and that the sum was still in the Iraqi central bank.

"Yes we received [ransom] money and we got hold of the funds and right now we still have it deposited in the Iraqi central bank," Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi said on Sunday in an address to the Popular Mobilisation Forces, an umbrella group of mainly Shia Muslim armed groups that have some state backing.

"It was never cashed out. I heard in various media outlets that the money was dispersed to one group or another but let me make it clear. This [ransom] money is still kept in our central bank," Abadi added in his remarks, which were broadcast on Iraqi state TV.

The revelation comes on the seventh day of a blockade imposed by Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, and the United Arab Emirates on Qatar, and after more countries, including Egypt, cut diplomatic ties with Doha for allegedly supporting "terrorism" - with the alleged ransom considered a "last straw".

The Qatari government has repeatedly denied all allegations by its fellow Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) nations, including the accusation that the money it paid to free the kidnapped Qataris in Iraq went directly to armed groups.

 

In April, the Iraqi government took what has been estimated to be $500m in ransom payments brought into the country by a Qatari delegation.

At the time, leaked comments attributed to al-Abadi suggested that the Iraqi government did not know about the intended payment and that the seizure of the money by Iraqi authorities had not been what Qatar intended.

However, on April 26, Qatari Minister of Foreign Affairs Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani disputed the Iraqi prime minister's comments, saying that Qatar was "quite surprised" by al-Abadi's statements.

"In the last 15 months, while [the Qatari hunters] were kidnapped, the Qatari authorities were always in touch with the Iraqi government and there were no positive developments except in the last few weeks - right before they were released," the foreign minister said at the time.

"The Qatari government was coordinating every single detail with its Iraqi counterpart. We received numerous requests from the Iraqi government for funds during their mission to secure the release of the hostages," Al Thani added.

"Let me make it clear: The ransom money was brought into Iraq with the approval of the Iraqi government and in the open. If the Iraqi government doesn't need these funds, the money will be returned to Qatar."

In spite of this disagreement over the intended recipient of the ransom money, the fact that the Iraqi government has held the money since April remained undisputed by both parties.

But a campaign by Saudi and UAE media to connect Qatar to "terrorism" in the wake of the GCC crisis has continued to repeat the claim that the ransom money in Iraq went directly to armed groups with ties to both al-Qaeda and Iran.

The Qatari hunters were abducted on December 16, 2015, and held for almost one year and a half.

It remains unclear who abducted them.

https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2017/06/iraq-qatari-ransom-money-armed-groups-170611161949859.html

[Butifldrm]

'Billion dollar ransom': Did Qatar pay record sum?

By Paul WoodBBC News, Doha

• 17 July 2018

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On the morning of 16 December 2015 Qatar's ruling family got bad news: 28 members of a royal hunting party had been kidnapped in Iraq.

A list of the hostages was given to Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman al-Thani, who was about to become Qatar's foreign minister. He realised that it included two of his own relatives.

"Jassim is my cousin and Khaled is my aunt's husband," he texted Qatar's ambassador to Iraq, Zayed al-Khayareen. "May God protect you: once you receive any news, update me immediately."

The two men would spend the next 16 months consumed by the hostage crisis.

In one version of events, they would pay more than a billion dollars to free the men. The money would go to groups and individuals labelled "terrorists" by the US: Kataib Hezbollah in Iraq, which killed American troops with roadside bombs; General Qasem Soleimani, leader of the Iranian Revolutionary Guards' Quds Force and personally subject to US and EU sanctions; and Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, once known as al-Nusra Front, when it was an al-Qaeda affiliate in Syria.

In another version of events - Qatar's own - no money was paid to "terrorists", only to the Iraqi state.

In this version, the money still sits in the Central Bank of Iraq's vault in Baghdad, though all the hostages are home. The tortuous story of the negotiations emerges, line by line, in texts and voicemails sent between the foreign minister and the ambassador.

These were obtained by a government hostile to Qatar and passed to the BBC.

So, did Qatar pay the biggest ransom in history?

Sheikh Mohammed is a former economist and a distant relative of the emir. He was not well known before he was promoted to foreign minister at the relatively young age of 35.

Image copyrightEPA Image captionRelatives of Qatari Foreign Minister Mohammed bin Abdulrahman were among those kidnapped

At the time of the kidnapping, the ambassador Zayed al-Khayareen was in his 50s, and was said to have held the rank of colonel in Qatari intelligence. He was Qatar's first envoy to Iraq in 27 years, but this was not an important post.

The crisis was his chance to improve his position.

The hostages had gone to Iraq to hunt with falcons. They were warned - implored - not to go. But falconry is the sport of kings in the Gulf and there were flocks of the falcons' prey, the Houbara bustard, in the empty expanse of southern Iraq.

The hunters' camp was overrun by pick-up trucks mounted with heavy machine guns in the early hours of the morning.

A former hostage told the New York Times they thought it was "Isis", the Sunni jihadist group Islamic State. But then one of the kidnappers used a Shia insult to Sunnis.

Image copyrightGETTY IMAGES Image captionThe Asian Houbara bustard, found in Iraq, is highly prized in the Arab Gulf states

For many agonising weeks, the Qatari government heard nothing. But in March 2016, things started to move. Officials learned that the kidnappers were from Kataib Hezbollah (the Party of God Brigades), an Iraqi Shia militia supported by Iran.

The group wanted money. Ambassador Khayareen texted Sheikh Mohammed: "I told them, 'Give us back 14 of our people... and we will give you half of the amount.'" The "amount" is not clear in the phone records at this stage.

Five days later, the group offered to release three hostages. "They want a gesture of goodwill from us as well," the ambassador wrote. "This is a good sign... that they are in a hurry and want to end everything soon."

Two days later the ambassador was in the Green Zone in Baghdad, a walled off and heavily guarded part of the city where the Iraqi government and foreign embassies are located.

Iraq in March is already hot. The atmosphere in the Green Zone would have seemed especially stifling: supporters of the Shia cleric Moqtada Sadr were at the gates, protesting about corruption. The staff of some embassies had fled, the ambassador reported. This provided a tense backdrop to the negotiations.

Mr Khayareen waited. But there was no sign of the promised release. He wrote: "This is the third time that I come to Baghdad for the hostages' case and I have never felt frustrated like this time. I've never felt this stressed. I don't want to leave without the hostages. :("

The kidnappers turned up, not with hostages but with a USB memory stick containing a video of a solitary captive.

"What guarantee do we have that the rest are with them?" Sheikh Mohammed asked the ambassador. "Delete the video from your phone... Make sure it doesn't leak, to anyone."

Mr Khayareen agreed, saying: "We don't want their families to watch the video and get emotionally affected."

The hostages had been split up - the royals were put in a windowless basement; their friends, the other non-royals, and the non-Qataris in the party, were taken elsewhere and given better treatment and food.

A Qatari official told me that the royals were moved around, sometimes every two to three days, but always kept somewhere underground. They had only a single Koran to read between them.

For almost the entire 16 months they spent in captivity, they had no idea what was happening in the outside world.

If money was the answer to this problem, at least the Qataris had it. But the texts and voicemails show that the kidnappers added to their demands, changing them, going backwards and forwards: Qatar should leave the Saudi-led coalition battling Shia rebels in Yemen. Qatar should secure the release of Iranian soldiers held prisoner by rebels in Syria.

Then it was money again. And as well as the main ransom, the militia commanders wanted side payments for themselves.

As one session of talks ended, a Kataib Hezbollah negotiator, Abu Mohammed, apparently took the ambassador aside and asked for $10m (£7.6m) for himself.

"Abu Mohammed asked, 'What's in it for me? Frankly I want 10'," the ambassador said in a voicemail.

"I told him, 'Ten? I am not giving you 10. Only if you get my guys done 100%...'

"To motivate him, I also told him that I am willing to buy him an apartment in Lebanon."

The ambassador used two Iraqi mediators, both Sunnis. They visited the Qatari foreign minister, asking in advance for "gifts": $150,000 in cash and five Rolex watches, "two of the most expensive kind, three of regular quality". It's not clear if these gifts were for the mediators themselves or were to grease the kidnappers' palms as the talks continued.

In April 2016, the phone records were peppered with a new name: Qasem Soleimani, Kataib Hezbollah's Iranian patron.

Image copyrightAFP/GETTY Image captionIranian General Qasem Soleimani, centre, heads the Revolutionary Guards' Quds Force

By now, the ransom demand appears to have reached the astonishing sum of $1bn. Even so, the kidnappers held out for more. The ambassador texted the foreign minister: "Soleimani met with the kidnappers yesterday and pressured them to take the $1b. They didn't respond because of their financial condition... Soleimani will go back."

The ambassador texted again that the Iranian general was "very upset" with the kidnappers. "They want to exhaust us and force us to accept their demands immediately. We need to stay calm and not to rush." But, he told Sheikh Mohammed, "You need to be ready with $$$$." The minister replied: "God helps!"

Months passed. Then in November 2016, a new element entered the negotiations. Gen Soleimani wanted Qatar to help implement the so-called "four towns agreement" in Syria.

At the time, two Sunni towns held by the rebels were surrounded by the Syrian government, which is supported by Iran. Meanwhile, two Shia towns loyal to the government were also under siege by Salafist rebels, who were apparently supported by Qatar. (The rebels were said to include members of the former al-Nusra Front.) Under the agreement, the sieges of the four towns would be lifted and their populations evacuated.

According to the ambassador, Gen Soleimani told Kataib Hezbollah that if Shia were saved because of the four towns agreement, it would be "shameful" to demand personal bribes.

"Hezbollah Lebanon, and Kataib Hezbollah Iraq, all want money and this is their chance," the ambassador texted the foreign minister. "They are using this situation to benefit... especially that they know that it's nearly the end... All of them are thieves."

The last mention in the exchanges of a $1bn ransom is in January 2017, along with another figure - $150m.

The government that gave us this material - which is hostile to Qatar - believes the discussions between Sheikh Mohammed and Mr Khayareen were about $1bn in ransom plus $150m in side payments, or "kickbacks". But the texts are ambiguous. It could be that the four towns deal was what was required to free the hostages, plus $150m in personal payments to the kidnappers.

Qatari officials accept that the texts and voicemails are genuine, though they believe they have been edited "very selectively" to give a misleading impression.

The transcripts were leaked, to the Washington Post, in April 2018. Our sources waited until officials in Doha issued denials. Then they sought to embarrass Qatar by releasing the original audio recordings.

Qatar is under economic blockade by some of its neighbours - Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain and Egypt. This regional dispute has produced an intensive, and expensive, campaign of hacking, leaking and briefings in Washington and London.

The hostage crisis was brought to an end in April 2017. A Qatar Airways plane flew to Baghdad to deliver money and bring the hostages back. This was confirmed by Qatari officials, though Qatar Airways itself declined to comment.

Image copyrightEPA Image captionQatar Airways has declined to comment

Qatar is in a legal dispute with its neighbours about overflight rights. The question of whether the emirate's national carrier was used to make payments to "terrorists" will have a bearing on the case - one reason, presumably, why we were leaked this material.

Who would get the cash flown into Baghdad - and how much was there? Our original source - the government opposed to Qatar - maintains that it was more than $1bn, plus $150m in kickbacks, much of it destined for Kataib Hezbollah.

Qatari officials confirm that a large sum in cash was sent - but they say it was for the Iraqi government, not terrorists. The payments were for "economic development" and "security co-operation". "We wanted to make the Iraqi government fully responsible for the hostages' safety," the officials say.

The Qataris thought they had made a deal with the Iraqi interior minister. He was waiting at the airport when the plane landed with its cargo of cash in black duffel bags. Then armed men swept in, wearing military uniforms without insignia.

"We still don't know who they were," a Qatari official told me. "The interior minister was pushed out." This could only be a move by the Iraqi Prime Minister, Haider al-Abadi, they reasoned. The Qatari prime minister frantically called Mr Abadi. He did not pick up.

Image copyrightREUTERS Image captionIraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi

Mr Abadi later held a news conference, saying that he had taken control of the cash.

Although the money had been seized, the hostage release went ahead anyway, tied to implementation of the "four towns agreement".

In the texts, a Qatari intelligence officer, Jassim Bin Fahad Al Thani - presumably a member of the royal family - was present on the ground.

First, "46 buses" took people from the two Sunni towns in Syria. "We took out 5,000 people over two days," Jassim Bin Fahad texted. "Now we are taking 3,000... We don't want any bombings."

A few days later, the Shia towns were evacuated. Sheikh Mohammed sent a text that "3,000 [Shia] are being held in exchange location... when we have seen our people, I will let the buses move."

The ambassador replied that the other side was worried. "They are panicking. They said that if the sun rises [without the Shia leaving] they will take our people back."

On 21 April 2017, the Qatari hostages were released. All were "fine", the ambassador reported, but "they lost almost half of their weight". The ambassador arranged for the plane taking them home to have "biryani and kabsa, white rice and sauté... Not for me. The guys are missing this food."

Sixteen months after they were taken, television pictures showed the hostages, gaunt but smiling, on the tarmac at Doha airport.

The sources for the texts and voicemails - officials from a government hostile to Qatar - say the material shows that "Qatar sent money to terrorists".

Shortly after the money was flown to Baghdad, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain and Egypt began their economic blockade of Qatar. They still accuse Qatar of having a "long history" of financing "terrorism".

Image copyrightREUTERS Image captionThe US has urged Qatar's Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani to act against terrorism

The anti-Qatar sources point to one voicemail from Ambassador Khayareen. In it, he describes telling a Kataib Hezbollah leader: "You should trust Qatar, you know what Qatar did, what His Highness the Emir's father did... He did many things, this and that, and paid 50 million, and provided infrastructure for the south, and he was the first one who visited."

Our sources maintain that this shows an historic payment, under the old emir, of $50m to Kataib Hezbollah.

Qatari officials say it shows support for Shia in general.

Whether the blockade of Qatar continues will depend on who wins the argument over "terrorist financing".

Partly, this is a fight over whom to believe about how a kidnapping in the Iraqi desert was ended. Qatari officials say the money they flew to Baghdad remains in a vault in the Iraqi central bank "on deposit".

Their opponents say that the Iraqi government inserted itself into the hostage deal and distributed the money.

For the time being, the mystery over whether Qatar did make the biggest ransom payment in history remains unsolved.

Update 17 July 2018: Since the article was published, a Qatari official told the BBC the payment of $50m by the Qatari emir's father was for humanitarian aid. The official said: "Qatar has a history of providing humanitarian aid for people in need regardless of religion or race. Whether they were Sunni or Shia did not factor into the decisions."

 

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-44660369

[Butifldrm]

Qatari royal reveals terrifying moment his hunting party was taken hostage – sparking $1bn ransom deal that reshaped Middle East relations

March 16, 2018

 

 

A Qatari royal has described the terrifying moment his falcon hunting group was kidnapped by militants – sparking a complex ransom deal that reshaped Middle East relations.

The 37-year-old, part of Qatar’s ruling Al Thani family, was in a 26-strong party held hostage while hunting in southern Iraq in December 2015.

 

It sparked panic in Doha and set in motion a wide-reaching deal with the hostages becoming pawns in tense geopolitical negotiations across the region. It is thought as much as $1billion may have been paid to eventually secure their release.

The Qatari royal has revealed how he was woken at 3am in his tent by a frightened servant who said soldiers in machine gun-mounted trucks had surrounded their hunting camp.

A short time later a masked militant with an AK-47 had entered his tent and a man started reading out names of family members.

Members of the party are pictured after their release and return to Doha

 

The Qatari, who the New York Times called Abu Mohammed to protect his identity, said he saw relatives lying face down and handcuffed with guns at their backs.

He told the newspaper, which has printed a lengthy investigation into the episode, that he was certain the kidnappers were ISIS fanatics who would kill them.

It was later claimed the militants were from Kata’ib Hezbollah, a Shiite faction formed in Iraq more than a decade ago.

The group officially denies it was behind the kidnapping and no other group has publicly claimed responsibility for the abduction.

They were bundled into trucks and transferred to an unknown location. From the sound of aircraft, they guessed they were near Tallil air base in southern Iraq.

 

From there, they were taken to a house and locked in basement cells.

Although Abu Mohammed attempted to bribe the captors with cash amounting to $33,000 – and several hundred thousand more when combined with other members of the party – the gang’s leader is said to have told him: ‘You think we want your money?’, the New York Times reports.

In April 2017, it emerged that Qatar had secured the release of the 26 hostages after nearly a year and a half in captivity, including members of its ruling family, in what became possibly the region’s most complex and sensitive hostage negotiation deal in recent years.

Several people with knowledge of the talks and a person involved in the negotiations said the hostage deal was linked to one of the largest population transfers in Syria’s civil war, and was delayed for several days due to an explosion that killed at least 130 people, most of them children and government supporters, waiting to be transferred.

The transfer of thousands of Syrian civilians was also tied to another deal involving 750 political prisoners to be released by the Syrian government.

 The 37-year-old, part of Qatar’s ruling Al Thani family, was in a 26-strong party held hostage while hunting in southern Iraq in December 2015

 

The complexity of the talks highlighted Qatar’s role as an experienced and shrewd facilitator in hostage negotiations – this time involving members of the Gulf Arab state’s ruling family.

It also raised allegations, that remain unproven, that the tiny energy rich nation paid millions of dollars to an al-Qaeda-linked group to facilitate the population transfer in Syria that led to the hostages’ release in Iraq.

The incident was sparked when the group was kidnapped December 16, 2015 from a desert camp for falcon hunters in southern Iraq.

They had legally entered Iraq to hunt inside Muthanna province, some 230 miles southeast of the Iraqi capital, Baghdad. Shiite militias are active in that area and work closely with the neighboring Shiite power Iran.

A person involved in the negotiations told Associated Press Qatar paid tens of millions of dollars to Shiite groups, and to the al-Qaeda-linked Levant Liberation Committee and Ahrar al-Sham, involved in population transfers in Syria.

Both groups were part of an armed opposition alliance that swept through Syria’s Idlib province, seizing it from government control in 2015 and laying siege to two pro-government villages.

Speaking on condition of anonymity due to the sensitivity of the situation, he said Qatari officials were given assurances about the well-being of the hostages during negotiations.

Two Iraqi officials- a government and a security official – also confirmed details of the release to the AP.

The abduction of the Qatari group drew Iran, Qatar and the Lebanese Shiite militant group Hezbollah into negotiations, resulting in millions of dollars in payments to Sunni and Shiite factions, according to Iraqi officials and a person involved in the negotiations. They say the talks took place in Beirut.

The negotiator said the evacuation and transfer of thousands of Syrians from four besieged areas was central to the release of the Qataris.

The kidnapping sparked panic in Doha and sparked a complex ransom deal deal with the hostages becoming pawns in tense geopolitical negotiations across the region. Pictured above, Qatar’s Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al-Thani (pictured in 2014) attends a Gulf Cooperation Council summit in Doha

 

The two pro-government villages, Foua and Kfarya, had been besieged by rebel fighters and under a steady barrage of rockets and mortars for years. The two opposition-held towns, Zabadani and Madaya, were under government siege for joining the 2011 uprising against Syrian President Bashar Assad.

The opposition-run Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, which monitors the Syrian conflict through a network of on-the-ground activists, says the transfer included 800 armed men from both sides. Rami Abdurrahman, who heads the group, told the AP that the population swap in Syria was directly tied to the issue of the kidnapped Qataris.

Abdurrahman, citing information from negotiators he’d spoken with, said the Qataris first proposed bringing the fate of the hunting group into the talks about the besieged four areas in Syria.

The population exchange was criticized by rights groups, which said it rewarded siege tactics and amounted to forcible displacement along sectarian lines.

The hunting group eventually departed on a private Qatari jet from Baghdad.

Their release was a priority of Qatar’s foreign policy for more than a year, said David Weinberg, a senior fellow at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies.

The AP reported at the time that a Qatari ruling family member paid $2 million, in an effort involving hackers, to secure the release of the hostages.

Qatar says it does not support extremist groups in Syria or elsewhere, despite aggressive efforts to back Sunni rebel groups fighting to oust the Syrian government, which is backed by Iran and Russia.

http://www.gulf-insider.com/qatari-royal-reveals-terrifying-moment-hunting-party-taken-hostage-sparking-1bn-ransom-deal-reshaped-middle-east-relations/

[Butifldrm]

Qatar: ransom of kidnapped fishermen deposited with the Central Bank of Iraq

 

 Twilight News    

 

 

 

Qatar has not paid money to terrorist groups to release the kidnappers, the Qatari daily Al-Sharq reported. 
The official added that his country "dealt with the Iraqi government, which was a party to the process, was deposited in the Central Bank of Iraq by the Iraqi prime minister Haider Abadi," according to the newspaper "East". 
"Qatar has previously taken care to bring funds to Iraq in a formal, clear and public manner to support the efforts of the Iraqi authorities to release the Qatari abductees. These funds were not smuggled in. The Qatari kidnappers were officially issued visas and were under the protection of the Iraqi security authorities when they were Kidnapping them, and this is confirmed by Abbadi that the Qatari funds are located in the Central Bank in Baghdad and deal with the subject legally.
The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) published a report entitled "Has Qatar paid the largest ransom in history to free the kidnapped princes in Iraq," in which the issue of Qatari citizens who were kidnapped in Iraq in 2015, based on documents that indicate the involvement of Qatar in support of groups Terrorist attacks. 
The story concludes that 100 armed men aboard dozens of SUVs abducted 28 members of the ruling family who were participating in a fishing trip in southern Iraq on 16 December 2015. 
According to the report, Qatar paid a ransom of $ 1 billion to release the hostages, This amount is groups and people the United States calls "terrorists". 
The BBC said that the party that provided it with the documents it used in this report was "an anti-Qatar government."

 

Keywords: 

http://www.shafaaq.com/ar/Ar_NewsReader/a82057e0-5127-4aaa-beb8-91b0f6041d45

[dinarham]

When's the movie coming out ?  

[justchecking123]

 Soleimani holds a ton of power.

 

Great articles. Thanks.

[yota691]

Qatar: Ransom of abducted fishermen in the Central Bank of Iraq

07:43 - 19/07/2018

 

 

 

BAGHDAD - 
The State of Qatar confirmed on Thursday that the ransom it had paid for the release of Qatari fishermen kidnapped in Iraq was in the Iraqi Central Bank. 
"Qatar did not pay for the release of the kidnappers of the terrorist groups, but it dealt with the Iraqi government that was involved in the operation. The money was deposited in the Central Bank of Iraq by Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abbadi," Qatar's Al Sharq newspaper quoted an official source as saying. 
He added that "
The British BBC earlier reported that Qatar had paid hundreds of millions of dollars for the release of its nationals abducted from the Samawa desert in Muthanna province by the end of 2015.

[3n1]

thanks yota , butifldrm so what was the money for ... 

Pay for falcons caught

gift to build reserves

interest bearing account 

i'm guessing they won't hunt falcons out of season anymore .... cheers dv

 

Edited July 20, 2018 by 3n1