Neighbours turn screws on Qatar with jail time for expressing online sympathy

WITH land and sea ports cut off and neighbours threatening jail for online sympathy, Qatar faces a difficult choice.

QATAR’S neighbours are turning the screws against the tiny country in the latest diplomatic crisis — but will it be enough to bankrupt the tiny nation that has billions in reserve?

The United Arab Emirates has upped the pressure by threatening those who publish sympathetic comments online with 15 years’ jail time and barred Qatari residents and passports from entering the country.

The Australian Government’s Smartraveller website has updated its advice for Australians travelling to the UAE.

“The UAE Government has stated that it is an offence to show sympathy or bias towards Qatar, or to object to the UAE Government’s current policy in relation to Qatar,” the website states.

“This includes social media or any other written or verbal form. Offenders could be imprisoned and subject to a large fine.”

UAE Minister of State for Foreign Affairs Anwar Gargash threatened worse would come unless Qatar made “iron-clad” commitments to change on funding militants.

It comes after Arab countries blocked Qatar from entering their airspace, seaports and sealed the land border in protest at what they claim is support for terrorist groups — something Qatar has vehemently denied.

“Doha now is completely isolated. Doha now needs to take serious steps very rapidly to placate not only their neighbours but also their allies around the world,” a member of the UAE ruling family, Sultan Sooud Al Qassemi said.

MORE: Will your flight be affected?

Bahrain Watch co-founder and Gulf Researcher Dr Ala’a Shehabi told news.com.au the crisis is about “breaking bones” for the tiny state that shares a land border with Saudi Arabia.

“It has become about Qatar’s national sovereignty. When you’re a small country surrounded by very large neighbours, the Saudi’s are basically saying to Qatar knowing that the US has also abandoned it: ‘It’s either us or Iran’, [it’s] basically a pariah state cut off internationally.”

“In terms of timing, it’s not a coincidence that it comes after Trump’s visit. This was definitely planned and orchestrated and choreographed.

“[Other countries have ] gone way over and beyond reality, everything from accusing them of basically every conspiracy in the region, every uprising in the region. Iran used to be the enemy in the region suddenly it’s become Qatar overnight, we’ve never seen anything like it.”

Shoppers stock up on supplies in Doha during Ramadan. Picture: Doha News via AP

BILLIONS IN THE BANK

With no sign of the crisis abating, the question is what it will mean for the 200,000 residents of the tiny state that has one of the largest sovereign wealth funds in the world.

The Qatari Investment Authority holds more than $440 billion worth of assets globally from football teams to luxury brands and high end property portfolios.

That includes 17 per cent of car company Volkswagen, nearly 10 per cent of Russian oil company Rosneft, Paris Saint-Germain Football Club in France along with critical buildings in London like The Shard, the Olympic Stadium and large parts of banking centre Canary Wharf.

The Shard is one of the key London assets owned by the Qatari Investment Authority, along with large parts of banking centre Canary Wharf and luxury department store Harrods. Picture: AP Photo/Tim Ireland.

Dr Shehabi said these “key strategic assets” have been part of a long-term strategy for sustainability following a 2006 food crisis that led them to think critically about security.

“I think they’re more strategic than we think and their investment strategy has been more about sustainability and the possible scenario of having to sustain themselves independently,” she said.

“If there’s a sudden emergency or a war and you’re 90 per cent dependent on agricultural imports then that’s a huge risk … in this case I think that’s going to be testing those strategies.

“That’s the one thing that’s going for them is that they are actually extremely rich. No one has cut off their sales or imports of Qatari gas and that’s the most important thing ….as long as that’s fine that isn’t a major crisis in their eyes anyway”

On Wednesday Saudi Arabia’s top diplomat called Qatar a “brother state” and said moves against the country were designed to stop its support for extremism.

Mr Trump initially praised actions against Qatar but later spoke by phone with Saudi King Salman and stressed the need for Gulf unity.

US President Donald Trump speaks with Qatar's Emir Sheikh Tamim Bin Hamad Al-Thani, during a bilateral meeting at a hotel in the Saudi capital Riyadh.