Cairo- Egypt—When more than five Arab countries take the same position against one little state and accuse Qatar and the Al-Jazeera channel of being the sponsors and protectors of terrorism and extremism in the region, and also playing the role of a spy, it isn't exaggerations or illusion.
From the highest security officials in Egypt, the proof came strong and clear.
And President Barack Obama’s recent trip to Saudi Arabia brought no hope and change.
At a shocking press conference, Egyptian Interior Minister Mohamed Ibrahim revealed new details in the case of spying of which the ousted president Mohamed Morsi is accused. He broadcasted the recorded confessions of the defendants in video and documents, and thus, new clues began to unfold regarding Qatar and its role to threaten the national security of the Arab countries, and new information surfaced to help explain the withdrawal of Saudi Arabia’s, UAE’s and Bahrain’s ambassadors from Qatar.
The Interior Minister said that the National Security investigations found that the defendants had taken reports and national security documents just few days before the June 30 revolution when they felt that the Brotherhood rule was ending. Morsi ordered his First Secretary Amin Serafy to start smuggling these documents from special safes in the presidential palaces to secret locations.
The Interior Minister stressed that Serafy had smuggled documents, handing them to his daughter Kareema, then disappearing until he was caught. National security investigations proved that those documents were delivered to Mohammed Kelany, who works as an on air host with Al Jezeera. Kelany hid these documents at his home and he scanned many of them, with the help of others, and kept them on a flash drive.
Kelany and Palestinian Alaa Sablan, were assigned to travel to Qatar to meet with officials of the Qatari intelligence services. They flew to Turkey on Dec. 23—to mislead Egyptian security—then to Qatar, where they met with Muslim Brotherhood member Ibrahim Hilal, (The manager of the News department at Al-Jazeera channel), who saw the photocopies of the documents and arranged a meeting with Hamad bin Jasim, (The Qatari former Prime Minister and chairman of Al-Jazeera channel).
The meeting was held at the Sheraton hotel in Doha, and Bin Jasim requested smuggling the original documents to Turkey, Lebanon or Qatar, for the price of $1.5 million. He then chose certain documents concerning the arming of the Egyptian military and private Egyptian intelligence subjects and then gave the Palestinian Sablan a $50,000 deposit.
The police raid on Kelany’s house found four large bags full of documents, concerning (Ministry of Defense, National Security Agency, Interior security sector, The Administrative Control Authority, Ministry of Justice, and the public security sector)!
Investigations are still ongoing with the police searching for other fugitives inside the country and Interpol taking care of those who escaped outside Egypt.
It is important here to emphasize some facts:
First, we can be sure that what the Minister of Interior said is not the whole truth, and there are many more unannounced sensitive secrets.
Secondly, it is very well known that Qatar is the U.S. delegate in the region, as it is known that Israel is also the most important and closest friend and also representative of the U.S. in the Middle East. Therefore, it was inevitable that any information or documents pertaining to the national security, and the Egyptian army would be on the desks of the officials in both the U.S. and Israel within hours. Thus, we can say that the former Qatari Prime Minister and current head of Al-Jazeera, Hamad bin Jassim is accused of spying on a large scale involving several parties.
Third, Hamad bin Jassim is the most powerful man in Qatar, and despite leaving his official position, he still wields tremendous power in Qatari. The reason the current Emir ousted him is his fear of bin Jasem's power and the loyalty Qatari officials still carry for him, which makes a real threat to the 'Little Prince' in the beginning of his rule.
Information says that bin Jassim has received promises from the U.S. administration about backing him to be the next ruler of Qatar in case of the overthrow of the current prince Tamim. Additionally, it is known that bin Jassim who first received the Muslim Brotherhood and radical Islamists including al-Qaeda and offered them safety and aid in Qatar. Maybe he can use them in the event of any threat against him from another country or even from the Qatari Emir.
Now, the questions are:
Will bin Jassim keep silent and swallow this international scandal and serious charges of spying and providing bribes, smuggling documents belonging to another Arab country?
What if Egypt asked Interpol or the International criminal court for his arrest?
Will he try to start a counter-attack and come out with some sort of scandals concerning Egyptian officials in order to bargain with Egypt?
Will he sacrifice some leaders of the Muslim Brotherhood and extradite fugitives to Egypt in a reward to keep silent about hidden parts of the case which are probably much greater than what was originally declared?
I think that all possibilities are open now, and that the media war between Egypt and Qatar has begun a new phase, a war between public officials in the two countries. It will surely touch the United States somehow, someday, especially when they both start to payback the price of supporting extremists and interfering with other country’s affairs and continue playing the role of ‘God father of Qatar’.
Videos for the confessions of the defendants:
One of the defendants, Mohamed Kelany, confessing
Egyptian Interior Minister Mohamed Ibrahim's press conference
Ali Al Sharnoby——
Bio and Archives
Ali Alsharnoby, an Egyptian journalist and deputy editor, worked in many Egyptian newspapers.
Studied at university of Cairo, faculty of law.. and wrote a number of books about the political trends in the Islamic view.
