UAE minister dismisses Qatar’s lawsuit as ‘lies’

The UAE’s minister of State for foreign affairs Anwar Gargash has said he is not “surprised” by Qatar’s move to sue the UAE before the International Court of Justice.

In a message on Twitter, he said: “Qatar said that it would bring an action against the UAE before the International Court of Justice because of what it described as human rights violations. We are not surprised by this move by the one who dared to lie on allegations about Hajj.”

According to previous reports, Qatar had alleged that Saudi Arabia had banned its nationals from performing Hajj. However, the kingdom denied the accusation, saying Qatari pilgrims were allowed to continue undertaking Hajj and Umrah.

Read more: Saudi says Qatari residents, citizens welcome for Umrah despite boycott

The Qatari government filed the lawsuit against the UAE on Monday, accusing it of human rights violations as a result of a boycott enacted last year, Reuters reported.

The UAE, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain and Egypt cut diplomatic, trade and transport links with Qatar on June 5 last year over its alleged support of terrorist groups.

“As set forth in detail in Qatar’s application to the International Court, the UAE led these actions, which have had a devastating effect on the human rights of Qataris and residents of Qatar,” the Qatari government said in a statement.

Qatar said it believed the actions were in violation of the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination (CERD) – including discrimination on the basis of nationality – of which the UAE and Qatar are both signatories.

Saudi Arabia, Bahrain and Egypt are not signatories of the CERD convention.

Qatar is asking the court to order the UAE to take steps to comply with its obligations under the CERD, ceasing and revoking the measures and restoring the rights of Qataris.

It also requested that the UAE make reparations, including compensation, but provided no details of the amount it might be seeking.

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With inputs from Reuters