Qatar & Iran: Convergence or Divergence? “Qatar & Al-Wefaq National Islamic Society (3)”

Cairo – One of the facets of Gulf and Arab nations’ decision to boycott Doha was Qatar’s interferences in the internal affairs of Bahrain.

The policy appears to have one goal: to overthrow the existing Bahraini regime that would eventually lead to the arrival of people close to the Iranian regime to power.

Three Gulf capitals, namely Riyadh, Abu Dhabi and Manama, severed all diplomatic and economic ties with Doha last week. The main reason, they say, for this was Qatar’s “recent support for terrorism”.

on June 7, Bahraini Al-Watan newspaper unveiled information about the role of Qatar during the 2011 violent protests by Iranian-backed groups. The revelations appear to have been hidden in order to maintain the unity of the Gulf.

According to the newspaper, Doha contacted Tehran and the Bahraini opposition, specifically Al-Wefaq, to launch the so-called “Qatari Initiative”.

Al-Wefaq National Islamic Society, or Al-Wefaq for short, is a Bahraini political society, and the largest party in the Bahrain, both in terms of its membership and its results at the polls.

Al-Wefaq’s religious orientation is Shia and it is led by a cleric, Ali Salman. The party is close to a Shia clerical body in Bahrain, the Islamic Scholars Council, which describes Al-Wefaq as the ‘Bloc of Believers’.

The Bahraini newspaper has revealed lately part of the details of Qatari interference into internals Bahraini affairs during the 2011 political crisis.  This crisis was precipitated following popular demonstrations, which led the kingdom of Bahrain to resort to the help of the Island Shield forces. At the time, Bahraini government stated that the troops came to secure vital and strategic institutions, while Iran described the Island Shield forces as being ‘Occupation Forces’.

On Friday, Bahrain TV broadcast a new leaked telephone call recording that was made on March 2011 between Advisor to the Qatari Amir, Hamad bin Khalifa Al Attiya, and fugitive terrorist, Hassan Sultan.

The telephone conversation showed how they were conspiring to spread chaos across Bahrain and cover it on the Doha-based Al-Jazeera satellite channel.

Terrorist Hassan Sultan is a senior religious leader in the Dawa Party, who played a key role to incite violence in the mid-1990s. He was a member of parliament and fled to Lebanon in 2011 for fear of being arrested.

Fugitive terrorist Hassan Sultan is being hosted in Lebanon by terrorist organisation, Hezbollah, and frequently visits Iraq to transfer money from Hezbollah to fugitive and wanted Bahrainis there.

He is a member of the dissolved Al Wefaq Islamic Society, whose members always take part in interviews broadcast by Al-Jazeera channel. The same channel also covers their news, which proves that it is not an independent channel, but implementing policies of the Qatari government.

“Bahrain released the recording as part of the disclosure of Qatari interference in the domestic affairs of the Kingdom of Bahrain, which was intended to overthrow the regime,” the official Bahraini News Agency said.

The channel showed four telephone conversations made in March 2011 between Al Attiyah and Sultan.

In the telephone call, Attiyah explained to Sultan why the Qatari forces are not participating in the island’s GCC joint shield forces, and showed him that his country will not partake this time, saying that there are only two Qatari watchdog officers participating.

The information revealed by the newspaper has defined the kind of Doha-Tehran communications with Al-Wefaq National Islamic Society, which helped in preparing for launching the so-called ‘Qatari initiative’ for defusing the crisis and reaching a resolution in Manam, the Bahraini capital.

‘The Qatari-Iranian initiative’

The Bahraini newspaper said that uncovered information showed that the then Qatari prime minister, in light of his contacts, outlined the “Qatari initiative” which asked the Bahraini to carry out four basic steps: “Guaranteeing the right to demonstrate to all citizens, shutting down the broadcast of Bahrain TV, releasing all detainees in juvenile prisons, and the formation of a transitional government within two months”.

The initiative revolved around 1) the formation of transitional government in Bahrain; 2) the official withdrawal of the “island shield” forces from Manama.

During his contacts with Al-Wefaq National Islamic Society Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani, former Emir of Qatar, asked for the necessity of coordination between Al-Wefaq and allied associations to assure that protestors continue to occupy the GCC Cooperation Council.

That’s why Qatar exerted utmost pressure on Bahraini government so that Security agencies would open up all closed roads for the public, stop civilian security as well as checkpoints run by the public.

The Qatari prime minister has suggested that Al-Wefaq would launch national talks as soon as possible so as to present its [partisan] political demands, and that protestors would not vacate public spaces at the GCC Cooperation Council at least one month from the onset of the talks.

In Al-Wefaq-Qatari talks, Bahraini intermediaries filed some demands which were presented before Sheikh Hamad who promised to work on fulfilling them, and even described their demands as “positive and imperative”. In light of these communications, former prime minister of Qatar [Hamad bin Jassim bin Jaber Al Thani] clarified the “Qatari imitative” document, which required that the Bahraini government to carry out four main steps, as follows:

First: To guarantee the right to protest for all citizens.

Second: To shut down the state-owned television station i.e. Bahrain TV and its several channels.

Third: To pardon all [political] prisoners during the pro-reform Bahraini protestors.

Fourth: The formation of a transitional government within two months [from then].

These proposals were accepted by the Al Wefaq’s Salman, especially after Hamad bin Jassim affirmed that Doha would be the main sponsor of such initiative. Al-Wefaq affirmed the necessity of involving them in the transitional government and the former prime minister agreed to their request.

The government of Qatar presented these ideas to the government of Bahrain; the latter which completely rejected them, as they were considered interference in local internal affairs.

Egyptian Journalist and Member of Parliament, Dr. Abdel Rehim Ali is an expert on Islamist Movements and political Islam. This essay is adapted from his upcoming book “Qatar: The Destabilizer of the Middle East: The Full Story of Grand Conspiracy,” which will be published later this month.