Arab states blacklist Islamist groups, individuals in Qatar boycott

DUBAI: The four Arab countries boycotting Qatar added 11 more individuals and two other entities, including a major group of Islamist scholars, to their “terrorist” blacklists for the Gulf state, Saudi state news agency SPA reported on Thursday. The lists now include the Qatar-based International Union of Muslim Scholars (IUMS) which was formed in 2004 mostly by clerics belonging to the Muslim Brotherhood and is chaired by the influential Sheikh Youssef al-Qaradawi. A statement issued by Saudi Arabia, Egypt, the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Bahrain said they also blacklisted the International Islamic Council (IIC). “The two entities listed are two terrorist organisations that promote terrorism by using Islamic rhetoric as a cover to facilitate terrorist activities,” the statement said. The move deepened the rift between the four countries and Qatar, the world’s top gas exporter and host to the biggest US military base in the Middle East.