Catch and Release: Did Qatar Free a Future al-Qaeda Emir?

Catch and Release: Did Qatar Free a Future al-Qaeda Emir?
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Farouq al-Qahtani al-Qatari, a core al-Qaeda official and senior planner of terrorist attacks from Afghanistan against the U.S. homeland, is now dead. According to former acting CIA director Michael Morrell, Qahtani was one of the few al-Qaeda leaders who “might have [had] what it takes to replace [Osama] bin Laden.” Indeed, Qahtani was the terrorist leader in South Asia Morrell said he worried the most about – even more than al-Qaeda’s current chief, Ayman al-Zawahiri.

Yet based on information released by the Treasury Department last year, it appears Qahtani may have been let out of custody by intelligence services in his home country of Qatar in 2006 without ever having charges filed against him. Even worse, it looks like the United Nations may have enabled Qatar to let him go. The episode appears to highlight Qatar’s historic practice of playing catch-and-release with terrorism backers – a topic that will be covered at next week’s half-day conference cosponsored by the Foundation for Defense of Democracies.

Qatar's hereditary ruler, Emir Tamim Al Thani, with then-Secretary of State John Kerry. The emir and other Gulf leaders are expected to meet President Trump on Sunday.

Qatar's hereditary ruler, Emir Tamim Al Thani, with then-Secretary of State John Kerry. The emir and other Gulf leaders are expected to meet President Trump on Sunday.

U.S. Department of State flickr account

U.S. officials are now saying that Qatar has taken some legal action against some designated terror financiers on its territory. But it’s odd that the Qatari government refuses to confirm so publicly and reveal the extent or limits of its actions to date. Meanwhile, a former top U.S. official for combating terrorist finance confirmed earlier this year upon leaving office that some designated terror financiers were still operating “openly and notoriously” in Qatar.

Who Was Qahtani?

Morrell called Qahtani “a U.S. counterterrorism expert’s worst nightmare,” describing him as “charismatic, intelligent, and operationally savvy.” Others called him “elusive,” “the top al-Qaeda commander in Afghanistan,” and “one of the most important remaining figures in the region.” As my colleague Thomas Joscelyn has pointed out, a declassified document taken from Osama bin Laden’s compound in 2011 praised Qahtani as “the best of a good crew.”

According to the Associated Press, Qahtani carved out a crucial safe haven as al-Qaeda’s emir in eastern Afghanistan to “train a new generation of fighters,” posing such a threat that he and his compatriots were a main reason why the U.S. kept troops in Afghanistan past 2014.

In October of last year, U.S. forces launched airstrikes in Afghanistan targeting him and one other al-Qaeda leader. The Pentagon noted that Qahtani had a long record of directing attacks against U.S. and coalition forces inside Afghanistan and was even one of al-Qaeda’s “senior plotters” for attacks against U.S. territory, confirming his death in early November.

All of this came after a move by the U.S. Treasury Department to sanction Qahtani in February 2016 on charges of fundraising from supporters in the Gulf “to support al-Qaeda’s external operations” and plotting attacks against “other Western countries” in addition to the United States. In so doing, Treasury also revealed that Farouq al-Qahtani was just a nom de guerre, identifying the Qatari-Saudi dual citizen’s true name as Nayf Salam Muhammad Ujaym al-Hababi.

Did Qatar Let Him Go?

In a bizarre series of twists and turns, evidence suggests that Qatar may have detained the man incommunicado via its intelligence services, freed him roughly half a year later without charges, and then issued him a new passport in under a year.

A controversial detainee rights organization named Alkarama reported in 2006 that a Qatari citizen named Nayf Salam Muhammad al-Hababi had been “imprisoned on the premises of the Qatari intelligence services” since 2005 without charges or being allowed to appoint a lawyer. It called on Qatari authorities to release him immediately or to provide him with a fair trial.

Alkarama, it should be noted, was cofounded by a Qatari national who is now under U.S. and U.N. sanctions on charges of having provided over $2 million a month for a time to al-Qaeda in Iraq. The group also has a pattern of defending Islamist extremists, insisting they are moderate and peaceful activists.

The skyline of the Qatari capital, Doha, at night

The skyline of the Qatari capital, Doha, at night

Wikipedia, Wikimedia Commons

Alkarama announced that “prisoner of conscience” Nayf Salam Muhammad Ujaym al-Ahbabi [sic], presumably the same individual, had been released in the summer of 2006 from Qatari custody along with five other detained individuals. The group then elaborated in a report that “Ahbabi” and several of the other detainees had been released “without subjecting them to any judicial proceedings” after being detained incommunicado for months without the chance to contact a lawyer, challenge the legality of their detention, or learn the legal grounds for their arrest.

Alkarama stated that it raised Nayf Salam Muhammad al-Hababi’s case with the U.N. Working Group on Arbitrary Detention, which then wrote to Qatar’s government on June 21, 2006 to note its concerns regarding the case of one “Mr. Naïf Salem Mohamed Adjim Al Ahbabi.” Evidently, Qatar chose to release him the very next day.

Qatar has demonstrated its capacity to impose travel bans in other cases of individuals who had been detained by its intelligence services or linked to terror finance. However, Qatar instead issued him a new passport in under a year.

The rest of Qahtani’s story after that is history, highlighting just how important it is for Congress and the administration to ensure Qatar fully turns over a new leaf, consistently charging, convicting, and locking up terrorist leaders and financiers on its territory.

Otherwise, the members of America’s armed forces will continue having to clean up Qatar’s mess beyond its borders.

Follow David Andrew Weinberg on Twitter: www.twitter.com/davidaweinberg

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