“Any claim that Qatar interferes in the internal affairs of its neighbours requires proofs that are consistent with facts”, the top Qatari official said.
HE Dr al-Marri stressed that unilateral sanctions imposed by the siege countries on Qatar were serious violations of international law because they were not evidence-based and not legally acceptable.
“The international law demanded that, prior to the imposition of any countermeasures, countries accused of committing irregularities be granted enough time and opportunity to defend their position, and this was what ignored blatantly and recklessly by the siege countries on June 5.
“The State of Qatar is determined to settle the dispute on the basis of international law. Qatar is committed to the settlement of disputes by peaceful means. The repeated call by the State of Qatar for co-operation to engage in genuine dialogue either through the traditional framework of the Gulf Co-operation Council or through other mutually accepted mediators is yet to elicit any positive response from the siege countries.”
David Scheffer, a former ambassador of the US, professor of law and director of the Center for International Human Rights at Northwestern Pritzker College in Chicago, called for the inclusion of piracy and cyberattacks in the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court as one of the crimes that violate human rights and the Charter of the United Nations.
"We must not ignore the fact that the economic blockade on Qatar happened following a cyberattack and piracy."
He also called on the Security Council to adopt a resolution against piracy and cyberattacks as amounting to a violation of human rights and the Charter of the United Nations and a threat to international peace and security.
The participants reviewed the illegal and unilateral measures taken by the siege countries against the State of Qatar through the use of blockade, cyberattacks and piracy as tools of revenge.
They considered that such actions constituted a threat to international peace and security, stressing that ignoring the principle of peaceful settlement of disputes, ignoring the rule of law and disrupting natural discourse were factors that threatened regional security and peace and further destabilised the region.
The meeting was attended by prominent figures and international law experts along with e-security, policy and communication law specialists. It focused on the legality of the siege and the threat posed by cyberattacks and piracy to international peace and security.
Among the other participants were the HE the Foreign Minister’s Special Envoy for Combating Terrorism Dr Mutlaq bin Majid al-Qahtani, director of International Co-operation at the Ministry of the Interior Major General Abdulaziz al-Ansari, Prof Rodney Dixon, Professor of International Law, Public Law and Human Rights; Prof William Schabas, Professor of International Law at Middlesex University in London; Dr Mohamed al-Misfer, Professor of Political Science; Dr Majid al-Ansari, Professor of Political Sociology; Dr Reem al-Ansari, Professor of Law at Qatar University; Prof Michael Newton, Professor of the Practice of Law, Professor of the Practice of Political Science at Vanderbilt University; Prof Mark Vlasic, Senior Fellow, Institute for Law, Science & Global Security, Georgetown University; and Prof David Crane, Chief Prosecutor of the Special Court for Sierra Leone.