Qatari officials have come under fire after a man named on a list of wanted terrorists finished second in a government-sponsored triathlon. Mubarak al-Ajji was photographed on the podium receiving a silver medal and prize money just a week after Qatari officials promised the US they would crack down on terrorists.

‘Empty’ coffin found to contain mummy

Researchers at the University of Sydney have discovered that a 2,500-year-old sarcophagus they believed to be empty actually contains the partial remains of a mummy. The sarcophagus had been on display in a university museum for the past 150 years, and was only opened for the first time by researchers last year.

Animal lover kills heron to save duckling

A Welsh man was arrested after he cut open a heron in order to save a duckling it had just eaten. The heron was killed during the incident, while the duckling reportedly survived. The man, described by police as “vulnerable and elderly”, was issued with a caution. </s> Dubai: Qatar’s Ministry of the Interior has issued a terror list comprising 19 individuals and eight entities.

The list included 10 persons who had been previously listed in the three lists issued by Bahrain, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Egypt, the Quartet that has boycotted Qatar since June 5 for supporting extremists and funding terrorism.

While the Arab Quartet welcomed the issuance of the list, it pointed out that Qatar has procrastinated in submitting it, which has been a demand of the Quartet since the crisis broke out.

“Qatar confirms the evidence against it and that its support for extremism and terrorism is the core of its crisis,” UAE State Minister of Foreign Affairs Anwar Gargash posted on his Twitter account.

Observers believe Qatar is finally buckling under US pressure to resolve the crisis where it had been previously dragging its feet and avoiding responsibility.

The list reportedly includes 11 Qataris, four Egyptians, two Saudis and two Jordanians as well as six entities from Qatar, Daesh Sinai branch and Al Ihsan Charitable Society from Yemen.

Among the most prominent names on the list is Abdul Rahman Al Nuaimi who was designated as terrorist by the US government in December 2013 and the UN in September 2014 for providing financial support to terrorist organisations.

The US Department of the Treasury described Al Nuaimi, 64, as providing millions of dollars to Al Qaida in Iraq.

He also provided hundreds of thousands of dollars to Al Qaida members in Syria, Al Shabaab members from Somalia, and to Al Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula via a charity in Yemen.

In December 2016, Al Nuaimi issued a public call for support in the form of weapons, men, and money for Islamist militants in Syria, Iraq and Yemen.

Al Nuaimi formerly served as the head of the Qatar Football Association, was a founder and board member of Eid Charity in Qatar (also placed on the terror list), and served as a top advisor to the government of Qatar on charitable donations.

During his activities in support of Al Qaida, Al Nuaimi co-founded and led the Geneva-based front organisation Al Karama Foundation, which served to pressure Gulf governments to release detained Al Qaida members, including several Qatari accomplices also sanctioned as terrorists.

Al Nuami was on the list of terror-linked individuals, entities issued by the Quartet in July.

In Geneva, prominent jurists have called on the international community to condemn Qatar and stop its support for terrorist organisations.

They have also called on international human rights organisations to end their policy of ignoring Qatar’s practices and its human rights record.

During a seminar organised by the Arab Federation for Human Rights, on the sidelines of the 37th session of the Human Rights Council in Geneva, the jurists expressed their dissatisfaction at Qatar’s continuing and unrepentant support for terrorists and extremist organisations.

The participants at the seminar agreed that justice cannot be guaranteed and terrorism cannot be stopped completely unless those responsible are held accountable.

When the International Criminal Court was established, its main role was to not let criminals escape justice, they added.

They warned that the silence on Qatar’s practices sends a wrong message to those aggrieved by terrorism and threatens the right to life, which is a key human right, as well as the right to liberty and personal security, the UAE news agency (WAM) reported.

They affirmed that Qatar’s role in acts of terrorism in Bahrain and Yemen, as well as in Egypt and Libya, is no longer secret, and there are no doubts about the connection between Qatari authorities and terrorism. They also revealed key evidence that confirms Doha’s financial, media and operational support for terrorist organisations in these countries.

The jurists expressed their surprise that human rights organisations have overlooked Qatar’s human rights record. “Qatar is depicted in the international community as a supporter of human rights, but many human rights organisations have not noticed its internal human rights record,” they said in conclusion.

List of the individuals designated as terrorists by Qatar

1. Abdul Rahman Umair Al Nuaimi (Qatari)

2. Saad Saeed Mohammad Sharyan Al Kaabi (Qatari)

3. Abdul Lateef Abdullah Saleh Mohammad Al Kawari (Qatari)

4. Ebrahim Eisa Hajji Mohammad Al Baker (Qatari)

5. Mubarak Mohammad Misaad Ali Al Ajji (Qatari)

6. Khalid Saeed Fadhl Rashid Al Buainain (Qatari)

7. Rashed Salem Rashed Mohammad Abu Qaba (Qatari)

8. Mohammad Faysal Hamad Al Jabr Al Suwaidi (Qatari)

9. Mohammad Jaber Salem Mishaab (Qatari)

10. Abdullah Sulaiman Saad Abdullah Thamer (Qatari)

11. Abdullah Mohammad Shaker Shamseddeen Al Shibani (Qatari)

12. Ebrahim Mohammad Abdul Rahman Al Bawardi (Saudi)

13. Abdullah Mohammad Salman Al Muhaisni (Saudi)

14. Dhahi Mohammad Mustafa Mustafa Sinjar (Egyptian)

15. Ahmad Sameer Mohammad Al Habib Al Tunaijir (Egyptian)

16. Ahmad Eid Salem Al Hajawi (Egyptian)

17. Hassan Saad Shetiwi (Egyptian)

18. Abdul Malik Mohammad Yousef Othman Abdul Salma (Jordanian)

19. Ashraf Mohammad Yousef Othman Abdul Salam (Egyptian)

List of the entities designated as terrorists by Qatar

1. Al Ansar for Mobiles, Car Rental and Real Estate (Qatari)

2. Tiftinaz for Trade and Contracting (Qatari)

3. Jebel Omar for Trade and Contracting (Qatari)

4. Khairat for Trade and Contracting (Qatari)

5. Al Dhahaibya for Umbrellas and Tents (Qatari)

6. Al Ihitida for Furniture and Décor (Qatari)

7. Al Ihsan Charitable Society (Yemeni)

8. Daesh Sinai Branch (Egyptian) </s> CAIRO (REUTERS) - Egyptian photojournalist Mahmoud Abu Zeid won the 2018 Press Freedom Prize awarded by the United Nations cultural agency Unesco on Monday (April 23), a choice that drew criticism from the Egyptian authorities.

The government arrested Abu Zeid, also known as Shawkan, in 2013 as he photographed security forces dispersing an anti-government sit-in, during which hundreds of protesters and several security forces members were killed.

Shawkan, who is still in detention, and more than 700 other people face many charges, which include belonging to the banned Muslim Brotherhood, possessing firearms and murder.

If convicted, he could face the death penalty.

He will have a hearing on Tuesday, but no verdict is expected.

He denies all charges, his lawyer Karim Abd el-Rady said.

International rights organisations, including Amnesty International and The Committee to Protect Journalists, have repeatedly denounced Shawkan's imprisonment and urged the Egyptian authorities to drop charges against him.

Amnesty says he was imprisoned merely for doing his job as a photojournalist.

Rights groups say a crackdown by the government of President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi has muzzled freedom of expression after the overthrow of Mohamed Mursi of the Muslim Brotherhood in mid-2013.

"The UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detentions has qualified his arrest and detention as arbitrary and contrary to the rights and freedoms guaranteed by the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights," Unesco said on Monday.

Egypt's Foreign Ministry said in a statement on Sunday that the "nomination of the accused was driven by a number of non-governmental organisations, including organisations dominated by the state of Qatar, which is known for its support and continuous defence of the Brotherhood terrorist group".

"Perhaps you have been following Unesco, which intends to award a person who is accused of a felony, and which is supported by suspicious organisations and countries known for their support of terrorism," Parliament speaker Ali Abdelaal told the state news agency MENA on Monday.

The prize, the Guillermo Cano Press Freedom Prize, will be awarded on May 2 to mark World Press Freedom Day, Unesco said.

"The choice of Mahmoud Abu Zeid pays tribute to his courage, resistance and commitment to freedom of expression," Unesco jury president Maria Ressa said in the statement. </s> DOHA - Qatar has blacklisted 20 people and eight organisations as “terrorist,” nine months after finding itself isolated in the Gulf over alleged support for extremists and sympathisers.

The list, published by the interior ministry late Wednesday, includes 12 Qatari nationals, two Saudi Arabians, four Egyptians and two Jordanians.

The move comes nine months after Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, and Egypt cut diplomatic and trade ties with Qatar, accusing Doha of bankrolling extremists and fostering ties with Saudi arch-rival Iran.

Qatar has denied the allegations and says the Saudi-led bloc aims to incite regime change in the emirate, the world’s richest country per capita.

Saudi Arabia and its allies months ago unveiled a “terrorist” list of 90 organisations and individuals in Qatar accused of ties to Islamist groups including Al-Qaeda.

The new Qatari list overlaps significantly with that list.

Among the names now blacklisted by Doha is Qatari Abdulrahman al-Nuaimi, who in 2013 landed on the US list of Specially Designated Global Terrorists for “providing financial support” to Al-Qaeda and its affiliates across Syria, Iraq, Yemen and Somalia.

The Qatari list also includes the Islamic State group branch in Egypt’s Sinai Peninsula, as well as a car rental company and tent and furniture stores.

The decision to publish the list received a lukewarm welcome by the United Arab Emirates, which along with its allies has banned all Qataris from its territory.

“Pride aside, Qatar is confirming evidence against it and confirming that its support for extremism and terrorism is at the heart of the crisis,” tweeted UAE state minister for foreign affairs Anwar Gargash. </s> DUBAI (Reuters) - Qatar said on Thursday it had placed 28 people and entities on a terrorism list, including several Qatari nationals already blacklisted by rival Arab states who accuse Doha of supporting militants.

Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain and Egypt imposed travel, diplomatic and trade sanctions on Qatar in June 2017, accusing it of financing terrorism, meddling in the affairs of Arab states and cozying up to their arch-rival Iran.

Doha has called the charges “baseless allegations” and accuses the countries of seeking to curtail its sovereignty.

Adding to suspects identified in October, Doha’s new list, published on the official website of its National Counter Terrorism Committee, included some individuals first named by its rivals, but stopped short of mentioning more mainstream Islamists whose regional influence they oppose.

The move appeared to bring Qatar’s blacklist more in line with that of the Arab states, but the motivation for its publication remained unclear. A Qatari government spokesman did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The four Arab countries, which have called themselves the “Anti-Terror Quartet”, maintain a list of 72 people and organizations they say have links to Doha.

Named on the new Qatari list were two Qatari citizens who were described by the boycotting countries as financiers of the Islamist militant Nusra Front group fighting in Syria. Their whereabouts are not clear.

Absent from the list was the Qatar-based International Union of Muslim Scholars, which was formed in 2004 mostly by clerics belonging to the Muslim Brotherhood and chaired by the Egyptian Sheikh Youssef al-Qaradawi. The group and Qaradawi are both blacklisted by Doha’s rivals.

UAE Minister of State for Foreign Affairs Anwar Gargash posted on Twitter: “Apart from its obstinacy, Qatar is confirming the evidence against it and that its support for extremism and terrorism is at the heart of its crisis.”

Qatar had listed 13 alleged al Qaeda and Islamic State militants in October in a joint move with the United States and five other Gulf Arab states, including the boycotters.

The United States, which hosts a major air base in Qatar, has sought to resolve the diplomatic dispute. While President Donald Trump initially accused Qatar of funding terrorism in the past “at a very high level”, he thanked its ruler for combating terrorism in a phone call in January. </s> CAIRO (Reuters) - Egyptian police arrested an Al Jazeera news producer on Friday over accusations of attempting to overthrow the country's government and being a member of the banned Muslim Brotherhood, three security sources said.

The Qatar-based broadcaster, which Egypt accuses of being a mouthpiece of the Brotherhood, said it did not know where Mahmoud Hussain was being held.

Hussain was questioned for more than 15 hours at Cairo airport on Tuesday after arriving for his annual vacation, the broadcaster said on its website. He is currently based in Doha but worked in Egypt before Al Jazeera closed its office there in 2013.

He was arrested at his Cairo home on Friday, Al Jazeera and the sources said.

Officials from the Interior Ministry were not immediately available for comment.

Egyptian authorities have over the past two years arrested several Al Jazeera reporters, raising concerns over media freedoms in the country.

In May, a Cairo court recommended the death penalty against two of them, charged in absentia with endangering national security by leaking state secrets to Qatar.

The Brotherhood is a Qatar-backed movement that President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi has cracked down on since an army takeover in 2013 stripped former president Mohammed Mursi - a prominent member of the group - of power following mass protests against his rule.

Thousands of Brotherhood supporters including Mursi are in jail and Egypt has designated the group, which says it is non-violent, a terrorist organization. </s> Qatar has released its first National List of Terrorist Classification which includes 20 individuals and eight entities, an official source said on Sunday.

The Qatari National Committee to Combat Terrorism said on its website that the terror list included "Sinai Province' and the Yemeni charity named Al-Ehsan, reports Xinhua news agency.

The list is based on a law on "combating terrorism" issued last July by Qatari Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani, the statement said.

The Qatari move came one day after the signing of an agreement between Saudi Arabia and the US worth $12.5 billion during the visit of Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman to Washington.

The Qatar government has issued the terror list in response to one of the 13 demands which were announced by the quartet of Arab countries boycotting Qatar,

The demands list included the closure of the Al-Jazeera channel, the severing of links with Iran, the closing of a Turkish military base on Qatari soil, and the severing of relations with Hamas and the Muslim Brotherhood.

In June 2017, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain and Egypt cut all diplomatic and transportation ties with Qatar, accusing it of supporting terrorism. Doha rejected the demands and the charges.

However, Qatar later signed a number of agreements on combating the financing of terrorism with major countries. </s> Three men held in Marrakech as suspicions grow that Islamists were behind killing of two Scandinavian women

Danish intelligence services are investigating a video circulating on social media they believe could show the murder of two Scandinavian women killed in Morocco as fears mount that the tourists were killed by extremists linked to Islamic State.

The Danish intelligence service, the PET, at first said it had authenticated the video but later rowed back, saying it was still being “examined”. The latest statement came as Moroccan authorities arrested three more suspects over the killings in the Atlas mountains, which have sent shockwaves through a popular tourist destination that has been relatively untouched by Islamist attacks.

The Moroccan government spokesman, Mustapha El Khalfi, described the killings as a “criminal and terrorist act”.

Investigators have released pictures of the three fugitives, who were identified as Rachid Afatti, Ouaziad Younes and Ejjoud Abdessamad. The three men were arrested in Marrakech as they tried to board a bus to the popular tourist resort of Agadir, according to a national security spokesman, Boubker Sabik, who said police were investigating whether they had terrorist affiliations.

Investigators were in the process of “verifying the terrorist motive, which is supported by the evidence and the findings of inquiries”, the central judicial investigations office said.

The men were seized with three long machete-like knives, a shorter blade, a slingshot and several mobile phones. Another suspect arrested in Marrakech on Tuesday had affiliations to an extremist group, Moroccan authorities said, and had apparently identified the others involved.

Pictures of the three men arrested on the bus also appear to show at least one man bearing a striking similarity to one of four individuals who had recently posted on social media declaring his allegiance to Isis while posing under the group’s flag.

Facebook Twitter Pinterest Composite image of the three arrested men, Rachid Afatti, left, Ouaziad Younes, centre, and Ejjoud Abdessamad. Photograph: AFP/Getty Images

The discovery of machetes with handles wrapped with electrical tape under the seats of the bus will raise questions of whether they planned a second assault, perhaps in Agadir.

The bodies of Louisa Vesterager Jespersen, 24, from Denmark, and Maren Ueland, 28, from Norway, were found on Monday in an isolated area near Imlil, which is on the route to Toubkal, north Africa’s highest peak and a popular hiking destination.

According to some local media reports the killers had camped near their victims, about four miles’ hike from the nearest town, and fled the scene after the attack. The bodies were found on Monday by two French women who were hiking near the remote spot where Jespersen and Ueland had pitched their tent.

Facebook Twitter Pinterest Louisa Vesterager Jespersen, left, and Maren Ueland. Photograph: vg

“We took a picture to show the police where we found them and went down again,” one of the witnesses told the Norwegian tabloid VG. “We warned everyone we saw [in the nearby town of] Imlil from going there. I did not want more to see what we had seen.”

In an earlier statement PET said Moroccan authorities had indicated that the killings may be related to Isis. That speculation was fuelled by claims on Morocco’s 2M television network that investigators had linked the first of the four people arrested over the murder to the terror group.

Moroccan television broadcast an interview with the brother of one of the three men arrested on the bus who suggested his sibling had been “brainwashed” by militants.

“He had no education and was brainwashed,” said the brother adding that his sibling had disappeared a week ago. “He was a normal guy, but was radicalised. What happened has nothing to do with Islam.”

The latest claims over the motive came as fresh details emerged of the two women’s last days. They had stayed in a hostel where they encountered a local mountain guide, Rachid Imerhade, who said he had cautioned them about camping alone on their planned ascent of the Toubkal mountain.

Moroccan media outlets reported that investigators also had video surveillance footage showing the suspects putting up a tent near the victims’ tent and leaving the area after the killings.

The murders can be considered “politically motivated and thus an act of terror”, the Danish prime minister, Lars Løkke Rasmussen, said on Thursday. He said “there are still dark forces that want to fight our values” and “we must not give in”.

In Norway, the prime minister, Erna Solberg, said terrorism “is not the only lead that is being investigated in Morocco” but said the case still “emphasises the importance of combating violent extremism”.

Jespersen had posted on Facebook about her upcoming trip before leaving. “Dear friends, I’m going to Morocco in December. Any of you guys who’s around by then or any mountain friends who knows something about Mount Toubkal?”

In the videos that have been circulating, a voice can reportedly be heard speaking of the “enemies of Allah” several times and referring to “revenge for our brothers in Hajin”, referring to the last stronghold of Isis in Syria, which fell a few days ago.

The two victims were friends from the University of South-Eastern Norway, where they were studying together. “What we know is that they were on a month-long, private holiday in Morocco. Our thoughts go to the families,” the university said.

The killings have prompted concerns about the impact on Morocco’s tourist sector, which accounts for 10% of national income, as the kingdom’s relative security has been a major selling point. </s> A suspect identified by Turkey in the disappearance of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi was a frequent companion of the kingdom’s powerful Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, The New York Times has reported. Three other suspects are linked to Prince Mohammed’s security detail and a fifth is a high-level forensic doctor, the Times said. The account, and a similar report in The Washington Post, could raise doubts about US President Donald Trump’s claim that “rogue killers” might have been responsible for Khashoggi’s disappearance. Trump made the comment after he said Saudi King Salman strongly denied to him any knowledge of what happened. Khashoggi, a Saudi national who contributed to The Post and criticised policies of Salman’s son Crown Prince Mohammed, has not been seen since October 2, when he went to the Saudi consulate in Istanbul to obtain official documents for his upcoming marriage.

Turkish government sources have said police believe the journalist was killed by a special team of 15 Saudi officials sent to Istanbul especially for the task. Riyadh insists that he left the consulate safely. The Times said it confirmed that at least nine of the 15 worked for the Saudi security services, military or other government ministries. The newspaper said it gathered more information about the suspects through facial recognition software, a database of Saudi cellphone numbers, leaked Saudi government documents, witnesses and media.

One suspect, Maher Abdulaziz Mutreb, was a diplomat assigned to the Saudi embassy in London in 2007, it said, citing a British diplomatic roster. Mutreb, perhaps a bodyguard, has been photographed emerging from planes with Prince Mohammed on recent trips to Madrid and Paris, the newspaper reported.

It added that Mutreb was also photographed standing guard during Prince Mohammed’s visits in the United States to Houston, Boston and the United Nations. The Times said three other suspects are Abdulaziz Mohammed al-Hawsawi – a member of the security team that travels with Prince Mohammed – Thaar Ghaleb al-Harbi, and Muhammed Saad Alzahrani. Al-Harbi and Alzahrani have the same names as two people who have been identified as members of the Saudi Royal Guard, the Times said.

The fifth suspect is an autopsy expert, Salah al-Tubaigy, who the Times said identified himself on his Twitter account as the head of the Saudi Scientific Council of Forensics. He also held high positions in the Interior Ministry and the kingdom’s top medical school, the report said. In its separate report late Tuesday, the Post said 11 of the 15 people which Turkey alleged were involved in Khashoggi’s killing have ties to the Saudi security services, including some who claim to be with the Royal Guard.

The Post cited posts on social media, emails, local media and other sources. On Monday, CNN cited two sources as saying the Saudis are preparing a report that Khashoggi’s death resulted from a botched interrogation, while The Wall Street Journal said the kingdom was weighing whether to say that rogue operatives killed Khashoggi by mistake.
Mubarak al-Ajji, named on a Qatari official list of wanted terrorists, wins second place at a government-sponsored triathlon and is photographed at the medal ceremony.