Egyptian cleric Sheikh Yousef al-Qaradawi arrives to lead the Friday prayers in Tahrir Square in Cairo February 18, 2011. ReutersDubai/Doha: Four Arab states that cut ties with Qatar this week over its alleged support of terrorism on Friday designated as terrorists dozens of people with alleged links to Qatar, intensifying a row that threatens the region's stability.
Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Egypt and Bahrain branded as terrorists 59 people, including Muslim Brotherhood spiritual leader Yousef al-Qaradawi.
Their joint statement also listed 12 entities, among them Qatari-funded charities Qatar Charity and Eid Charity, as having terrorist links.
The announcement intensifies the diplomatic and economic campaign to isolate Qatar, a small Gulf Arab state which is a critical global supplier of gas and hosts the biggest U.S. military base in the Middle East. Saudi Arabia and the UAE listed scores of organizations in a 2014 spat with Qatar.
Qatar dismissed the latest move by its neighbors, saying it "reinforces baseless allegations that hold no foundation in fact".
"Our position on countering terrorism is stronger than many of the signatories of the joint statement - a fact that has been conveniently ignored by the authors," the Qatari government said in a statement.
Qatar said it leads the region in attacking what it called the roots of terrorism, giving young people hope through jobs, educating hundreds of thousands of Syrian refugees and funding community programs to challenge extremist agendas.
The four Arab states severed relations with Qatar on Monday, accusing it of supporting Islamist militants and their arch-adversary Iran - charges Qatar rejects. Several other countries later followed suit.
Would-be mediators, including U.S. president Donald Trump and Kuwait's ruling emir, have struggled to ease a crisis that Qataris say has led to a blockade of their nation.
Trump initially took sides with the Saudi-led group before apparently being nudged into a more even-handed approach when U.S. defense officials renewed praise of Doha. The United States has major military base in Qatar that serves, in part, as a launchpad for strikes on Islamic State insurgents.
Qatar's ambassador to Washington said on Thursday his government trusted in Trump's ability to resolve the dispute.
"The most important engagement that happened so far from the U.S. is by the president, which we highly appreciate," Meshal bin Hamad al-Thani told the Financial Times.
"We truly believe that the involvement of the president and the U.S. will bring this crisis to an end."
The ambassador left open the prospect of compromise, saying "We are courageous enough to acknowledge if things need to be amended."
But so far there have been few signs of progress as officials from Qatar and its Arab neighbors in the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) pursue shuttle diplomacy.
Prominent Islamists flagged
Among the 18 Qataris named by the four Arab states are alleged terrorism financiers as well as prominent businessmen, politicians and senior members of Qatar's ruling family including a former interior minister.
Abdel Hakim Belhadj, a former Libyan Islamist commander, is one of five Libyans listed, while Qaradawi and firebrand Salafi preacher Wagdi Ghoneim are among the 26 Egyptian nationals.
The list includes Shi'ite militant groups in Bahrain seen by some Gulf Arab governments as linked to Iran, including Saraya Ashtar, Saraya Mukhtar, and February 14 movement.
It also names three Kuwaiti nationals, two Jordanians, two Bahrainis, an Emirati, a Saudi and a Yemeni.
Saudi Arabia's closure of Qatar's only land border earlier this week sparked fears of major price hikes and food shortages for its population of 2.7 million people, with long queues forming as some supermarkets began running out of stock.
With supply chains disrupted and anxiety mounting about deepening economic turbulence, banks and firms in Gulf Arab states were trying to keep business links to Qatar open and avoid a costly firesale of assets.
A source at pan-Arab satellite network Al Jazeera, which is backed by Doha, said on Thursday the network was combating a large-scale cyber attack but remained operational. Qatar's official state TV later said it had shut down its website temporarily after also facing hacking attempts.
People in the list:
Khalifa Mohammed Turki al-Subaie - Qatari
Ibrahim Eissa Al-Hajji Mohammed Al-Baker - Qatari
Abdulaziz bin Khalifa al-Attiyah - Qatari
Salem Hassan Khalifa Rashid al-Kuwari - Qatari
Abdullah Ghanem Muslim al-Khawar - Qatari
Saad bin Saad Mohammed al-Kaabi - Qatari
Abdullatif bin Abdullah al-Kuwari - Qatari
Mohammed Saeed Bin Helwan al-Sakhtari - Qatari
Abdul Rahman bin Omair al-Nuaimi - Qatari
Abdul Wahab Mohammed Abdul Rahman al-Hmeikani - Yemeni
Khalifa bin Mohammed al-Rabban - Qatari
Abdullah Bin Khalid al-Thani - Qatari
Abdul Rahim Ahmad al-Haram - Qatari
Mubarak Mohammed al-Ajji - Qatari
Jaber bin Nasser al-Marri - Qatari
Mohammed Jassim al-Sulaiti - Qatari
Ali bin Abdullah al-Suwaidi - Qatari
Hashem Saleh Abdullah al-Awadhi - Qatari
Hamad Abdullah Al-Futtais al-Marri - Qatari
Abdelmalek Mohammed Yousef Abdel Salam - Jordanian
Ashraf Mohammed Yusuf Othman Abdel Salam - Jordanian
Ali Mohammed Mohammed al-Salabi - Libyan
Abdelhakim Belhadj - Libyan
Mahdi Harati - Libyan
Ismail Muhammad Mohammed al-Salabi - Libyan
Al-Sadiq Abdulrahman Ali al-Ghuraini - Libyan
Hassan Ahmed Hassan Mohammed Al Dokki Al Houti - UAE
Abdullah al-Muhaysini - Saudi
Hakem al-Humaidi al-Mutairi - Saudi / Kuwaiti
Hajjaj bin Fahad Hajjaj Mohammed al-Ajmi - Kuwaiti
Hamed Abdullah Ahmed al-Ali - Kuwaiti
Yusuf Abdullah al-Qaradawi - Egyptian
Mohamed Ahmed Shawky Islambouli - Egyptian
Tariq Abdelmagoud Ibrahim al-Zomor - Egyptian
Mohamed Abdelmaksoud Mohamed Afifi - Egyptian
Mohamed el-Saghir Abdel Rahim Mohamed - Egyptian
Wagdy Abdelhamid Ghoneim - Egyptian
Ayman Ahmed Abdel Ghani Hassanein - Egyptian
Assem Abdel-Maged Mohamed Madi - Egyptian
Yahya Aqil Salman Aqeel - Egyptian
Mohamed Hamada el-Sayed Ibrahim - Egyptian
Abdel Rahman Mohamed Shokry Abdel Rahman - Egyptian
Hussein Mohamed Reza Ibrahim Youssef - Egyptian
Ahmed Abdelhafif Mahmoud Abdelhady - Egyptian
Muslim Fouad Tafran - Egyptian
Ayman Mahmoud Sadeq Rifat - Egyptian
Mohamed Saad Abdel-Naim Ahmed - Egyptian
Mohamed Saad Abdel Muttalib Abdo Al-Razaki - Egyptian
Ahmed Fouad Ahmed Gad Beltagy - Egyptian
Ahmed Ragab Ragab Soliman - Egyptian
Karim Mohamed Mohamed Abdel Aziz - Egyptian
Ali Zaki Mohammed Ali - Egyptian
Naji Ibrahim Ezzouli - Egyptian
Shehata Fathi Hafez Mohammed Suleiman - Egyptian
Muhammad Muharram Fahmi Abu Zeid - Egyptian
Amr Abdel Nasser Abdelhak Abdel-Barry - Egyptian
Ali Hassan Ibrahim Abdel-Zaher - Egyptian
Murtada Majeed al-Sindi - Bahraini
Ahmed Al-Hassan al-Daski - Bahraini
Institutions in the list:
Qatar Volunteer Center - Qatar
Doha Apple Company (Internet and Technology Support Company) - Qatar
Qatar Charity - Qatar
Sheikh Eid al-Thani Charity Foundation (Eid Charity) - Qatar
Sheikh Thani Bin Abdullah Foundation for Humanitarian Services - Qatar
Saraya Defend Benghazi - Libya
Saraya al-Ashtar - Bahrain
February 14 Coalition - Bahrain
The Resistance Brigades - Bahrain
Hezbollah Bahrain - Bahrain
Saraya al-Mukhtar - Bahrain
Harakat Ahrar Bahrain - Bahrain Movement
