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UAE ambassador to US dismisses story on hacking of Qatari media as fake

Qatar had repeatedly said that the website of the Qatar News Agency’s was hacked but failed to provide the results of its own investigation so far

© Sergey Konkov/TASS

MOSCOW, July 17. /TASS/. The Washington Post’s story alleging that the United Arab Emirates orchestrated the hacking of Qatari government news and social media in late May is not true, the UAE’s ambassador to the United States, Yousef al-Otaiba, said on Monday.

Amb. Yousef Al Otaiba: "The @washingtonpost story is false. UAE had no role whatsoever in the alleged hacking described in the article".
— UAE Embassy US (@UAEEmbassyUS) 17 July 2017

Qatar had repeatedly said that the website of the Qatar News Agency’s was hacked but failed to provide the results of its own investigation so far. The intelligence believes that the UAE, Saudi Arabia and Egypt were behind the hacking attack on May 24.

On June 5, Bahrain, the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia and Egypt severed diplomatic ties with Doha in retaliation for what they described as Qatar’s support for terrorism and extremism, its hostile policy and intervention in the affairs of Arab states. Doha dismissed the allegations as unfounded.

Some countries announced they had taken a series of other measures, including the termination of sea and air communication, the suspension of banking transactions and the expulsion of Qatari diplomats and citizens. On June 22, four Arab states advanced 13 demands to Qatar for restoring relations and gave it a 10-day deadline to comply with them.

On July 5, the deadline expired, but Doha’s response handed via Kuwait was met with regret by the boycotting nations. They vowed to continue their political and economic pressure on Qatar until it changes its policy.

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