Cairo: A pro-military Egyptian TV station has claimed that Qataris were arrested in Cairo in possession of incendiary substances and Palestinian passports amid growing tensions in ties between the two Arab countries.
The privately owned Al Hayat TV aired footage of what it said security forces raiding an apartment in the eastern Cairo area of Jesr Al Sweis allegedly seizing documents, Palestinian passports and books of hardline clerics. In the video, some people looking non-Egyptians appeared surrounded by security forces and others in plain clothes. The arrested men had purportedly broadcast video material to the Doha-based broadcaster Al Jazeera, according to Al Hayat. There was no official comment in Cairo.
The report was dismissed by the Qatari Foreign Ministry as baseless. Qatar News Agency quoted Director of Arab Affairs Department at the ministry Saad Bin Ali Al Mohannadi as describing reports about the alleged arrests as “totally baseless”.
Qatar is a firm backer of Egyptian Islamist president Mohammad Mursi deposed by the army six months ago following massive protests against his one-year rule. Egypt accuses Qatar of meddling in its affairs and being biased to Mursi’s Muslim Brotherhood group.
Earlier this month, Egypt summoned the Qatari ambassador in Cairo and protested Doha’s condemnation of a security crackdown on Mursi’s backers.
Qatar has also criticised a recent decision by Egyptian authorities designating the Brotherhood as a terrorist group. Egyptian Foreign Minister Nabeel Fahmy has threatened further unspecified steps in reaction to what Cairo sees as Qatar’s meddlesome policy. Relations between the two countries have seriously deteriorated since Mursi’s overthrow.
