A Qatari intelligence officer sentenced in 2015 by a UAE court to 10 years in prison for plotting to defame the country’s leaders admitted the plot in an interview broadcast on two local TV stations on Thursday.
Hamad Ali Muhammad Ali Al-Hammadi, 33, said in the interview that Qatar is behind the “fake” UAE social media accounts Bo3skor and Gannas Al Shimal that tried to spread defamatory images and sow dissent among emiratis. He said Qatari Intelligence’s Digital Department set up those social media accounts.
Al Hammadi also admitted that he was involved in the creation of the fake social media accounts by buying sims cards and paying mobile phone data subscription in the UAE. The purchases were ordered by his superiors at the Qatari Intelligence’s Digital Department, though he was not told of the purposes for the sim cards and phones.
The fake social media accounts targeted the late Shaikh Zayed Bin Sultan Al Nahyan, President His Highness Sheikh Khalifa Bin Zayed Al Nahyan, His Highness Sheikh Mohammed Bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Abu Dhabi Crown Prince and Deputy Supreme Commander of the UAE Armed Forces, Sheikh Abdullah Bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation, and Shaikh Hazza Bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Deputy Chairman of Abu Dhabi Executive Council, according to Gulf News.
In 2015, Emirati authorities arrested Al Hammadi when he visited UAE again and the Federal Supreme Court sentenced him to 10 years in prison. However, President, Sheikh Khalifa, pardoned Al Hammadi.
The aired interview of Al Hammadi comes as the UAE, Saudi Arabia and Bahrain are locked in a diplomatic crisis with Qatar over alleged support for terrorist groups.
credit: Public Domain Pictures
