DUBAI: An exiled Qatari royal family member once promoted by Saudi Arabia amid its ongoing dispute with Doha appeared in an online video on Sunday claiming he’s being held against his will in the United Arab Emirates, an allegation denied by an Abu Dhabi official.

The video of Sheikh Abdullah bin Ali Al Thani, a little-known ruling family member until the boycott of Qatar by four Arab nations, offered new fuel to the months-long stalemated crisis. It immediately recalled the bizarre, now-reversed resignation of Lebanese Prime Minister Saad Hariri while on a trip Riyadh, a Nov 4 decision that was widely perceived as Saudi-orchestrated at the time.

The video, immediately aired by Doha-based news network Al-Jazeera, shows Sheikh Abdullah saying he was invited to Abu Dhabi as a guest of “Sheikh Mohammed.” Sheikh Abdullah appears to refer to Abu Dhabi’s powerful crown prince, Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, who enjoys strong ties to Saudi Arabia’s rulers.

“I am a guest of Sheikh Mohammed but it is not hosting now, it is now an imprisonment,” Sheikh Abdullah says. “They told me not to leave and I am afraid something will happen to me and they blame Qatar.” He adds: “I just wanted to let you know that Qatar is innocent in this and I am being hosted by Sheikh Mohammed and anything that happens to me after this is under his responsibility.” The UAE, one of four countries boycotting Qatar, denied the claim. Authorities pointed to a series of tweets by Ali Rashid al-Nuaimi, who heads Abu Dhabi’s Hedayah counter-extremism center. Al-Nuaimi said that Sheikh Abdullah had asked to move to the Emirates for his “safety.”

Published in Dawn, January 15th, 2018