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QNA
Doha
Qatar has condemned the airing of false and fabricated news targeting Doha by some of UAE media houses.
In a statement to QNA, Director of the Government Communication Office HE Sheikh Saif bin Ahmed bin Saif al Thani said these allegations against Qatar were baseless and reflected lack of professionalism.
He said the statement of Qatari citizen Hamad Ali Mohammed al Hammadi which was broadcast by a channel in Abu Dhabi on Thursday evening was false and recorded under duress, torture and ill-treatment while in the custody of the State Security Service in the UAE in 2014.
He said Hammadi, accompanied by Qatari citizen Yousef Abdul Samad al Mulla, had travelled to the UAE by land on June 30, 2014 as tourists and the security authorities there were aware of the purpose and his profession.
However, they arrested Hammadi and Mulla under false charges without any evidence. He said the two citizens were forced under torture and duress to confess to the fabricated charges and were denied trial before a normal court and instead stood trial before state security courts that have no legal guarantees for a fair trial as they only allow one degree of litigation in violation of international standards.
The arrests were made and false charges were pressed against them as part of the campaign by Saudi Arabia, the UAE and Bahrain to withdraw their ambassadors from Qatar in 2014.
At that time, Qatar did not expose the flagrant violations and illegal actions taken against Hammadi and Mulla to preserve the relations between the brotherly countries.
He said Hammadi was released on May 22, 2015 and Mulla May 8, 2015.
He said it was not surprising that these media outlets resorted to broadcast false and fabricated news in violation of rules and professionalism.
He said Qatar is not affected by such malicious media campaigns as it believes they will not succeed in achieving their goals.
