UAE denies arranging hack of Qatar news agency
17 July 2017 11:15 PM IST
United Arab Emirates was not responsible for an alleged hack of Qatari websites that helped spark a month-long diplomatic rift with Doha, the UAE's minister of state for foreign affairs has said.
According to the Washington Post, US officials discovered last week that UAE ministers held a meeting on 23 May to discuss plans to hack Qatari government news and social media sites and post incendiary false quotes attributed to Qatar's emir, Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad al-Thani.
The hack, which took place the following day, preceded the current split in the Gulf between Qatar and a coalition of four states that are mounting an economic and diplomatic boycott against it.
The four states — the UAE, Saudi Arabia, Egypt and Bahrain — imposed sanctions on Qatar on 5 June, cutting diplomatic and transport ties with the tiny Gulf monarchy, after accusing it of financing militant groups and allying with their regional arch-foe Iran. Doha denies the accusations.
The UAE foreign minister, Anwar Gargash, twice denied the veracity of the claims. He said: "The Washington Post story is not true. It is purely wrong. You will see in the next few days the story will die." He denied the hack could have precipitated the crisis, saying "this issue has been festering since 2014".
Among the false social media posts published during the hack were some made in the name of the emir of Qatar, in which he appeared to make disparaging remarks about Donald Trump, praised Gaza's Hamas leaders and expressed support for Iran as an "Islamic power".
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