Abu Dhabi on Thursday called on Doha to stop “supporting terrorist groups and individuals” as it strongly denied human rights abuses against Qatari citizens before the UN’s top court.
The Gulf crisis pitting Doha against its neighbors including the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain and Egypt moved to the international courts Wednesday, with Qatar accusing the UAE of fostering an “environment of hate” against its citizens.
But Abu Dhabi’s representatives Thursday fired back, saying it cut relations with Qatar “because of its support for terrorism, its interference with the affairs of its neighbors and its dissemination of hate speech.”
“Our government has asked Qatar time-and-again to seize this conduct,” the UAE’s ambassador to the Netherlands, Saeed Alnowais, told the International Court of Justice. “Although Qatar repeatedly committed to do so, it has failed to live up to its commitments,” Alnowais said.
Qatar earlier this month took the UAE before the Hague-based body — which rules in disputes between countries — accusing it of racism and human rights abuses against its citizens.
The legal moves at the ICJ come a year after Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Bahrain and Egypt cut all ties with Doha accusing it of supporting terrorism and Iran.
Doha’s lawyers Wednesday told a 16-judge bench at the tribunal that Abu Dhabi has implemented a “series of broad discriminatory measures” against Qataris.
UAE representative Alnowais however said his country “completely rejects the allegations, all of which are without any merit or basis.”
“Qatar has put forward no credible evidence to substantiate any of these claims,” he said, adding it consisted “only of anecdotal and unverified statements,” he said. Source Arab News
