Qatar, Iraq spar over Arab League decision on abductees

By Mostafa Haroun

CAIRO

The Cairo-based Arab League on Monday adopted a resolution calling for the release of some two dozen Qatari nationals abducted earlier in troubled Iraq, according to an Arab diplomatic source.

In late 2015, unidentified gunmen abducted 26 Qatari hunters from a desert camp in southern Iraq near the border with Saudi Arabia.

At least nine of the hunters later managed to escape and cross into Kuwaiti territory.

Qatar proposed the draft resolution, which describes the abductions as a “terrorist act” and calls on the Iraqi government to “take all measures necessary to secure the release of remaining abductees and bring the perpetrators to justice”.

Permanent league delegates voted in favor of Monday’s draft resolution despite Iraqi opposition, the diplomatic source told Anadolu Agency, requesting anonymity due to restrictions on speaking to media.

According to the same source, the vote led to a brief but heated quarrel between delegates.

“The session had to be suspended for five minutes before resuming again,” the source said, adding that Arab foreign ministers were expected to discuss the move further at a Tuesday meeting.