Qatar’s emir flees to Seychelles to escape corona, his cousin calls him ‘cowardly traitor’

Ahmed Adel

Activists on social media have criticized Qatari Emir Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani for escaping to Seychelles Island, where he is quarantining himself and his close entourage to protect against the Covid-19 corona virus, which has been increasingly spreading in Qatar.

Silence and disappearance

This news comes in light of a terrible silence from Doha since Tamim’s absence while there have been increased cases of the corona virus, which has raised the question about his whereabouts.

Amjad Taha, regional head of the British Middle East Center for Studies and Research (BMCSR) and an expert on strategic political affairs, posted on Twitter that Qatar’s emir is in Beau Vallon, Seychelles with a team of 281 people, most notably Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of State for Defense Khalid bin Mohammad Al Attiyah.

Cousin calls him ‘traitorous coward’

Analysts believe that Tamim chose Seychelles as the best option because it is being used by a large number of wealthy people around the world due to the global corona pandemic.

Since the corona virus first broke out in Qatar, the Ministry of Public Health has announced 2,979 confirmed cases and 7 deaths, with 275 cases of recovery. This is in a country where foreigners constitute 90% of the population of 2.75 million people, the majority of them laborers from developing countries working on projects related to the 2022 FIFA World Cup.

These reports come amid news of the virus spreading in labor camps for those working in stadiums and sports facilities for the 2022 World Cup. This forced the authorities to quarantine the sports facilities in March, which drew criticism from international human rights organizations demanding that laborers be protected.

Sheikh Fahad bin Abdullah Al Thani, Tamim’s cousin and an opponent of the regime, posted on Twitter asking the Qatari authorities to implement a curfew to confront the corona virus pandemic after news of the emir’s escape to Seychelles.

Sheikh Fahad also attacked Tamim’s behavior, describing the emir as a “traitorous coward” for escaping his responsibilities and not standing with his people through this ordeal.

A video clip of the emir in which he appeared afraid of the sound of a plane was included in the tweet, with the comment, “How does someone rule Qatar who fears the buzz of a plane and escapes for fear of standing with the Qatari people to confront the virus?”

“How does this coward rule you? Whose father betrayed his grandfather despite the oath he took on God’s Book to not betray,” he continued.