Dubai: A diplomatic standoff between Qatar and four other Arab nations over Doha’s support of terrorism has turned a spotlight on an opaque network of charities and prominent figures freely operating in the tiny Gulf country.

Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Egypt and Bahrain have released a list of two dozen groups and nearly 60 individuals involved in financing terrorism and are linked to Qatar.

The crisis began last month when the four Arab countries cut ties to Qatar. They demanded it end support of terrorism, and also that it cut its relations with Iran and stop meddling in their affairs through support of terrorist groups.

The list of the groups and individuals released by Qatar’s neighbours reflects long-standing concerns raised by US officials.

Foreign ministers from the Arab quartet met in Cairo to review Qatar’s response to their demands. At the top of those demands is that Qatar end support for the Muslim Brotherhood, which briefly held power in Egypt and whose offshoots are active across the Middle East.

Saudi Arabia, the UAE and Egypt have branded the Brotherhood a terrorist organisation and see it as a threat to political stability and security.

The Brotherhood’s spiritual guide, Shaikh Yousuf Al Qaradawi, has ties with terrorists. The 90-year-old Egyptian cleric has lived in Qatar for decades.

Qatar’s support of the Brotherhood has made it an outlier, as has its unique role as a mediator in hostage negotiations, helping to free Western captives held by Al Qaida in Syria and Yemen.

Christopher Mellon, a researcher with the New America Foundation who co-authored a report about ransom payments, said these negotiations have often involved paying extremist groups.

“They’re very deliberately nontransparent. They don’t want anyone to know that they’ve paid,” he said.

Reports emerged earlier this year that Qatar paid hundreds of millions of dollars to release members of its ruling family who were kidnapped in Iraq. The complex deal included Qatari payments to an Al Qaida-linked group in Syria, as well as to an Iranian-backed militia in Iraq, it was reported.

The Arab quartet’s list names a number of Qatari nationals, including Khalifa Al Subaie, Saad Bin Saad Al Kabi, Abdul Rahman Al Nuaimi, Ebrahim Al Bakr and Abdul Latif Al Kuwari. All have been sanctioned by the US Treasury Department as material supporters of Al Qaida. The five appear to be living in Qatar — their assets are frozen, they are under surveillance and are barred from travelling abroad — but they are not imprisoned.

The US Treasury said Al Bakr was detained in Qatar in the early 2000s for his role in a terrorist network but that he was released from prison after promising not to conduct terrorist activity in Qatar. Treasury alleged that in 2006, he played a key role in a terrorist cell plotting to attack US military bases in Qatar, and as of mid-2012 was serving as a link between Gulf-based Al Qaida financiers and Afghanistan.

While some of those sanctioned by the US have faced trial and may have been detained by Qatar at some point, there does not appear to be a single individual jailed in Qatar for terrorism financing, according to David Weinberg, a senior fellow at the Foundation for Defence of Democracies.

Weinberg, who has written extensively about terror financing in the Gulf, said Qatar has been “inexcusably negligent” when it comes to cracking down on such financiers.

“There’s been a long-standing debate within the US government about whether Qatar’s lax enforcement is related to lack of capability or lack of will. My research leads me to believe it’s the latter: lack of will,” he said.

The Associated Press asked Qatari officials on Wednesday for information on the prosecution of individuals suspected of terrorism financing. The officials said they would look into the request but had not provided details by Thursday evening.

Also on the list is Shaikh Abdullah Bin Khalid Al Thani, a senior member of Qatar’s royal family and a former interior minister. The quartet accused him of giving shelter to Khalid Shaikh Mohammad in the 1990s as he actively funded Al Qaida operations abroad, but before he became the alleged mastermind of the 9/11 attacks.

— AP