DOHA (Dispatches) – Qatar has officially accused the United Arab Emirates of hosting controversial hacking attacks on its national news agency in May, saying Doha is pondering an appropriate response.
General Ali Mohammed al-Mohannadi, who presides over an investigation into the May 24 hacking of the Qatar News Agency (QNA), said that state prosecutor was expected to take "the appropriate measures" in response to the findings of the probe, which indicated that the UAE was behind the hacking.
Mohannadi told a news conference in Doha that the "hacking" was undertaken "from two sites... in the Emirates". He did not elaborate on what measures Qatar could take in response to the UAE’s alleged role in the issue.
"The hacker took control of the agency's network, stole the accounts on its electronic site and uploaded fake information," Mohannadi said.
The alleged hacking, which led to the release of remarks attributed to Qatar's Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani on the QNA website, sparked an unprecedented row between Qatar and Arab neighbors in the Persian Gulf region. The remarks, denied by Doha, covered sensitive issues of politics in the Middle East region. The row later evolved into a full-scale diplomatic dispute after Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Bahrain and Egypt cut their diplomatic ties with Qatar over accusations such as Doha’s support for terrorism, among others. Qatar has denied the allegations while maintaining that it is paying the price for its independent foreign policy.

‘Conflicting Statements’

Qatar has slammed the Saudi-led quartet of boycotters for their "disorganized” conduct and "conflicting statements” after they apparently backed down from a number of the terms on their list of demands aimed at ending the dispute with Doha.
On Wednesday, Sheikh Saif bin Ahmed Al Thani, director of Qatar’s government communications office, told The Associated Press that the four Arab countries have "regularly issued conflicting statements” since the outbreak of the diplomatic crisis in the Persian Gulf region last month.
"These latest comments are another example of the dangerous and disorganized manner in which the illegal blockade has been conducted,” said Sheikh Saif.
"At first there were no demands, but following pressure from mediating countries, the blockaders leaked a list of demands that was quickly deemed neither reasonable nor actionable,” he added.

(L to R) Qatar's deputy director of security, Othmane Salem al-Hamoud, head of the Interior Ministry's technology division, Mohammed al-Mohannadi, and the director of Public Relations Department, Abdullah Khalifa al-Muftah, attend a press conference at the ministry's headquarters in Doha on July 20, 2017.