New Qatar controversy as World Cup hosts are linked to terrorism

• Qatar World Cup organisers' sinister links with terrorism laid bare
• US governments issued statement that former president of Qatar FA Abdul Rahman Omeir al-Naimi was a major financier of Al Qaeda
  
• Another senior official chaired meeting with Hamas interior minister Fathi Hamad
• Hamas are regarded as a terrorist organisation by USA, Canada and the EU
  

By Martin Samuel

PUBLISHED: 17:46 EST, 18 March 2014 | UPDATED: 19:41 EST, 18 March 2014

The bribes in the millions, the worker deaths in the hundreds, so how long do we let this travesty of a World Cup continue? It depends how seriously FIFA are prepared to take the next item on the Qatar 2022 agenda.

The photographs and reports that place leading members of the World Cup delivery team in the same room as advocates of murder. The links, the official support, for men who preach violence.

The more one peers beneath the surface of Qatar’s grand coming out ball, the more dangerous FIFA’s choice of host becomes. Jack Warner isn’t the half of it. Wait until the world discovers who else Qatar likes to do business with.

VIDEO: Scroll down to see Hamas interior minister Fathi Hamad speak

Violent: Hamas militants have links to Qatar's FA chief

Allegations: Jack Warner has been caught up in a bribery scandal before Qatar won the World Cup

On December 20, 2013, the Treasury Department of the United States government issued a statement that Abdul Rahman Omeir al-Naimi, a Qatari history professor and human rights activist, was a major financier for Al Qaeda. Al-Naimi is also a former president of the Qatar Football Association (QFA).

The organisation he founded, Al-Karama, advocates for Islamist  political prisoners throughout the Middle East and has campaigned against the US drone war in Yemen. Al-Naimi claims this is why the United States are attempting to smear him.

The Treasury insist that Al-Naimi oversaw the transfer of hundreds of thousands of dollars to Al Qaeda and its affiliates in Iraq, Somalia, Syria and Yemen over a period of 11 years.

In 2013, it says, Al-Naimi ordered the transfer of nearly $600,000 to Al Qaeda via the group’s representative in Syria.

Al-Naimi may be ancient history at the QFA but Sheik Hamad bin Khalifa bin Ahmed al Thani is most certainly not. He is a member of the Qatari royal family and the president of the QFA who in April 2013 held a meeting with Hamas prime minister Ismail Haniyeh to discuss what the Qatar News Agency termed ‘Qatar-Hamas relations’.

Hamas, a political organisation with a military wing which has governed the Gaza Strip since 2007 and carried out sustained attacks on Israel between 1993 and 2006, are still regarded as a terrorist organisation by the United States, Canada and the European Union. Qatar seem to rub along fine with them, though.

In October 2012, the Emir of Qatar was the first head of state to visit Hamas-controlled Gaza, pledging $400million in support. On April 24, 2013, Sheik Abdullah bin Nasser bin Khalifa al Thani, chairman of the Qatar 2022 World Cup Supreme Committee’s Security Committee as well as Minister of State for Internal Affairs, chaired meetings with Hamas interior minister Fathi Hamad.

During one of those meetings,  Al Thani pledged the importance of maintaining a strong relationship and offered training and equipment to ‘strengthen the Hamas security apparatus’.

Embroiled: FIFA executive member for Qatar Mohamed Bin Hammam

Links: Sheik Hamad bin Khalifa bin Ahmed al Thani visited Gaza's Hamas prime minister Ismail Haniyeh

What might this apparatus be? Well, Fathi Hamad is regarded as the official responsible for co-ordinating the policy of the Interior Ministry and the terror squads.

In October 2009, he told a Palestinian news agency that his role was to ‘protect them and make their jihad operations easier to carry out’.

Still sounds vague? Well here is Fathi Hamad — friend of the chairman of the Qatar 2022 World Cup Supreme Committee’s Security Committee, remember — getting more specific in a speech in December 2012.

‘Today we celebrate, and God willing we will celebrate the future victories. We are aware that the future battles will be more brutal and more violent, nevertheless, we have a stronger, more advanced and more far-reaching plan, until the liberation of Palestine — all of Palestine — God willing.

‘We say in the name of all of you, out of loyalty to the martyrs’ blood and out of loyalty to the body parts: we will continue on the same path, with the same might, on the path of contribution and sacrifice.

‘Each one of us needs to promise to himself every day to continue on the same path, sacrificing and moreover being creative about the ways to get rid of this entity (he means Israel), to get rid of this cancer, God willing. The Interior Ministry continues to sacrifice martyr after martyr. Presently, in this battle, 25 martyrs joined the Interior Ministry’s caravan of martyrs.’

So that would be the Interior  Ministry that is propped up by one of the leading players in the organisation of the Qatar World Cup. And there’s more. Here’s Hamad speaking on Hamas-controlled Al-Aqsa television in December 2010.

Blockbuster: The Al-Khor stadium in Doha is one of the arenas planned for the 2022 tournament

Revolutionary? The view from inside the proposed stadium is shown in this artist's impression

‘The Jews have become abhorred outcasts because they live off corruption and the plundering of the peoples — not only the Arab and Islamic peoples, but all the peoples of the world. Whenever we score a goal by achieving something against the Jews, the world applauds us. When we are playing, the entire world supports us.’

Nice football analogy there. Although he was a little more, shall we say, direct on Al-Aqsa in 2008. ‘Allah has chosen you to fight the people He hates most — the Jews. Allah said: “You shall find the worst enemies of the believers to be the Jews and the polytheists.”

‘In other words, the Jews, who number 15 million, are equivalent to 4.5 billion infidels in their corruption and their struggle against the religion of Islam.

Therefore our heroic prisoners, who were arrested for killing Jews, should know that by the grace of Allah, killing a single Jew is the same as killing 30 million Jews. Therefore, the reward of our martyrs is great, and your reward is also great.’

A friend of the 2022 World Cup bid speaking, do not forget. And suddenly the corrupt former FIFA vice-president Jack Warner looks the least troubling of Qatar’s social circle.

Warner now stands accused, with his family, of accepting roughly $2m from the Qatari bid, the deal uncovered in an investigation spearheaded by the FBI.

Scandal: Mohamed Bin Hammam (right) is alleged to have paid Warner $1.2million in 2011

Mohamed Bin Hammam, the FIFA executive member for Qatar, is alleged to have paid $1.2m to Warner in 2011. A note from one of Warner’s companies, Jamad, to Bin Hammam’s Kemco enterprise requests the payment for work carried out between 2005 and 2010.

The document is dated two weeks after Qatar secured the World Cup. Separate payments to Warner’s sons and a company employee are said to amount to a further $1m.

Then there is the mounting death toll of construction workers, which the International Trade Union Confederation estimates, at the current rate, will reach 4,000 by the time the tournament begins.

A small difference of opinion exists on this. Most of the builders are south Asian, mainly Indian and Nepalese. India says 450 of its nationals have died in the last two years in Qatar. Nepal says that 191 deaths were registered in 2013 and 169 in 2012, with a large percentage of the death notices citing heart failure as the cause.

Going ahead: Blatter holds up the country's name in 2010 when Russia were awarded the 2018 tournament

Old pals: Blatter with Mohamed Bin Hammam in December 2010 at Doha Airport

Controversial figure: Fathi Hamad is the Hamas interior minister

This unfortunate spate of coronary illness, not at all linked to health and safety issues on construction sites, would tie in with Qatar’s official statistics on how many workers have so far been killed in building ventures linked to the 2022 tournament. None.

‘No one has died on World Cup projects,’ said the organising committee. ‘The International Trade Union Confederation report is littered with factual errors and attempts to discredit the positive work we are undertaking.’

Such a mission wouldn’t be hard, however, what with the backhanders, overtime at the morgue and now the possibility that FIFA may have got into bed with a bunch of terrorist sympathisers.

Sepp Blatter is well versed in batting away questions about Warner, even trying to take credit for his downfall, as if he hadn’t stood shoulder to shoulder with the odious creep throughout much of his reign as FIFA president.

He also tried to brazen out the subject of worker deaths last October, saying there was plenty of time to deal with construction issues in Qatar, as if fatalities today could be remedied over the next nine years.

To have leading Qatar 2022 officials palling about with men like Fathi Hamad, however, is not so easily dismissed. If this is the company they keep, then the growing influence of Qatar on sport and world football — from Paris to Barcelona and even Royal Ascot — needs to be addressed. 

Not to mention what would happen  if a lone Jewish construction worker died building a stadium in Doha, taking the death toll, by Hamas’s calculations, to 30million.

FORGET THE TALE OF SIX CITIES

Ehab Allam, son of Hull City owner Assem Allam, has been making his case to the local newspaper.

Undeterred by the Football Association’s rejection of the plan to change the club name to Hull Tigers, Allam junior told the Hull Daily Mail: ‘Currently, there are six teams in the Premier League with City in their name and, with the exception of Manchester City, all of those are in a similar league position to us. We need something that makes us stand out.’

Seriously? Hull City owner Assem Allam and family want to rename the Premier League club

How many: Hull City and Manchester City are two of six Premier League teams with 'City' at the end

They have it. Hull. The same distinguishing factor that ensures Stoke, Norwich, Cardiff and Swansea are never confused, despite all having City in the name, or that West Ham, Rotherham and Newcastle can be told apart from Manchester United.

The City part is only important to the one group the Allam family alienates at its peril —the supporters.

The rest of us will continue calling the club Hull. And nobody will know them as Tigers.

Mark that. Nobody.

AND WHILE WE'RE AT IT...

Jose Mourinho says he cannot separate Ramires’ horror tackle on Karim El Ahmadi of Aston Villa on Saturday from referee Chris Foy’s error in showing Willian a red card earlier in the game.

The Chelsea manager talked of the accumulation of frustration playing a part in Ramires’ thinking — as if a potentially leg-breaking stamp finds mitigation in a heightened sense of fair play.

For an intelligent man, it is the most specious logic.   

Bad call? Willian was sent off by referee Chris Foy during the game against Aston Villa

Ouch: Ramires was then sent off for a sickening tackle on Villa's Karim El Ahmadi

Baffling: Jose Mourinho claimed Foy was partly to blame for the Brazilian's tackle because he sent off Willian

El Ahmadi was nothing to do with the Willian incident. It was Fabian Delph who Willian fouled, although not severely enough to merit a red card.

To link the two events, then, is akin to saying that a man felt so aggrieved when police towed his car away that he was motivated to kneecap the nearest passer-by.

The Football Association should entertain not a word of  this nonsense when considering its options.

WHY SMASH-HIT BALE IS BETTER THAN THE BEATLES

It was Garth Crooks who came up with the catchy line that Tottenham Hotspur had sold Elvis and bought The Beatles, when Gareth Bale was replaced by the seven recruits who were going to propel the club into the Champions League. 

Crooks was wrong, but he was hardly coming at the argument from left field.

Many people, Tottenham fans included, shared his view. How could the potential of one player, however outstanding, equate to seven, each with international pedigree?

Superstar: Gareth Bale surges forward during Real Madrid's Champions League clash with Schalke

Magnificent? Tottenham signed seven players in the summer Bale left. From left Paulinho, Christian Eriksen, Roberto Soldado, Nacer Chadli, Etienne Capoue, Vlad Chiriches and Erik Lamela

At the weekend we found out. Tottenham went behind after 72 seconds against Arsenal at White Hart Lane, meaning they unsuccessfully went in search of an  equalising goal for 93 minutes and 48 seconds, including injury time. That wouldn’t have happened if Bale was still there. 

Just to recap: 

Oct 12, 2012 — 89th min:    Wales 2, Scotland 1
Jan 30, 2013 — 80th min:    Norwich 1, Tottenham 1
Feb 9, 2013 — 78th min:    Spurs 2, Newcastle 1
Feb 14, 2013 — 90th min:    Spurs 2, Lyon 1
Feb 25, 2013 — 90th min:    West Ham 2, Spurs 3
May 4, 2013 — 86th min:    Spurs 1, Southampton 0
May 19, 2013 — 89th min:    Spurs 1, Sunderland 0

And that was just last season. Bale scored late on seven occasions in his final campaign in this country, goals that were worth nine points to Tottenham and secured their Europa League place.
He changed matches, as the time drained away and the tension grew. 

Pitching in: Bale carried Tottenham in his final season at White Hart Lane

Golden boy: Bale shone in Andre Villas-Boas' tumultuous reign at Tottenham

There were many more games Bale influenced from a comfortable  position, too but it is hard to believe Arsenal would have resisted for the better part of two hours if he was tracking an equaliser.

Just as Manchester United would never have surrendered the title to Manchester City on goal difference had Cristiano Ronaldo been in the team.

Selling your match-winner rarely works.

Match-winner: Cristiano Ronaldo was irresistible during his final months at Manchester United

David Moyes seemed greatly buoyed by the reaction of the home fans to a 3-0 defeat by Liverpool on Sunday. He would be foolish to mistake this for a vote of confidence, though, with Manchester United supporters no doubt reluctant to publicly display their frustration, anger and embarrassment in front of such sworn rivals.

They will not be so proud about acting up in front of the visitors from Greece, if it all goes wrong against Olympiacos on Wednesday.

Reason to be cheerful? David Moyes was buoyed by the fans' chanting at Old Trafford on Sunday

Comments (105)

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freddy boy, london, United Kingdom, 2 days ago

Close down FIFA and create another thing...

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Ian, St Austell, 3 days ago

Jack Warner is as bent as a nine bob note. He should be slung off any international committee.

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Stephen, Canberra, 3 days ago

FIFA created their own mess when they voted for Qatar, if only by ignoring their own technical report which rated it last. If they change dates, Frank Lowy, Chairman of FFA, has said Australia will sue. As the bloke who started with a deli and created Westfields, he's no mug. Japan, South Korea and the USA might also sue. If they drop Qatar, Qatar will sue. If it wasn't for the fact that it's the World Cup, it'd be easy to say FIFA will deserve what they get.

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Somewhere not here, London, 3 days ago

And so it begins. The slow painful deconstruction of the Qatar win. About time.

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Kaks, London, United Kingdom, 3 days ago

Should have gone to Australia, but money talks ..

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ASA3, Edmonton, Canada, 3 days ago

I'm sure you object to USA hosting the world cup because of their illegal war that killed hundred of thousands of innocent people and their financial and military support to Israel? I really can't comprehend how supposedly clever people be so incredibly inept to spot the irony here... and By the way I object to Qatar hosting the world cup but not for this reason..

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Ted, Middle Earth, United Kingdom, 3 days ago

Would only take three teams to qualify.......Israel, USA and of course England, would you go?

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Monkey Monkey, The Jungle, 3 days ago

Yep brilliant idea Step Ladder!!!!!

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Oarstruck, Townsend Lane, United Kingdom, 3 days ago

Doesn't exist for me...wont be watching any of it so don't care...we should all blank it as a competition

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Dave, Plymouth, United Kingdom, 3 days ago

And the money grabbing members will all be there wining and dining at the best hotels while the fans and the players suffer.

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