Abu Dhabi – A detained Qatari member of the Muslim Brotherhood confessed that the Doha government had provided the terrorist organization backing to target the Arab Gulf region, specifically the United Arab Emirates.
Mahmoud al-Jaidah, a leading member of the organization, appeared in a television documentary aired by the UAE news agency (WAM) on Friday during which he spoke of plots he was seeking to carry out in the country. He also highlighted the role the Brotherhood played in targeting the stability of the Gulf states.
Jaidah, 52, was responsible for providing financial support to members of the organization residing in the UAE. He is a members of the Brotherhood’s Gulf coordination bureau. He was sentenced to seven years in jail for attempting to illegally enter the UAE through Dubai international airport, but was later pardoned by President Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed al-Nahyan and expelled from the country.
He explained in the documentary how members of the Gulf cell were chosen, saying that it adheres to a strict hierarchy, which is headed by the executive and Shura councils. The Brotherhood, according to Jaidah, is led by general official Jassem al-Sultan. He is followed in the hierarchy by a 30-member council.
He said: “I was chosen with an administrative group that included Issa al-Ansari, Mohammed Thani, Nasser Mohammed Issa, Ibrahim al-Ibrahim, Abdulhamid Mahmoud and Khamis Al-Mohannadi.”
The report referred to Qatar’s efforts to embrace terrorist organizations, like the Muslim Brotherhood, to play a larger regional role, while allowing these organizations to infiltrate its state-run facilities and become key decision makers within Doha, reported WAM.
Al-Jaidah revealed that Khalid Mohammed Abdullah Al Shaiba, who was convicted and sentenced to 10 years imprisonment for links to the Muslim Brotherhood, set up a branch of the organization in the UAE. The documentary revealed that Kuwaiti citizen, Hakim al-Mutairi, who is active in financing and directing terrorist groups in Syria, Yemen and Libya, often attended meetings held in Istanbul.
Jaidah was responsible for raising funds from countries and sides that support the Brotherhood. He was tasked with contacting fugitives of the group in Turkey and other countries. He was also a member of the Gulf coordination bureau of the Brotherhood and oversaw several meetings between members inside the UAE and that were aimed at creating incitement.
He confessed to coming to the UAE to raise money under the guise of attending the Sharjah International Book Fair, at the request of Mohammed Saqr Al-Zaabi.
“No one knows what Al-Zaabi was doing with these funds … but it is certain that he currently resides in Britain and that his links to terrorist organizations and other extremist parties led to the dispersal of these funds to individuals who implemented terrorist operations,” said WAM.