Saudi-led bloc’s demands are harsh

• Japan’s Prime Minister Shinzo Abe expressed concern about the repercussions of the Gulf crisis, noting that the demands of the four countries are harsh.
• In a telephone conversaiton with Qatar’s Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al-Thani, Abe also stressed Japan’s support for Kuwaiti mediation and diplomatic efforts to resolve the crisis.

9:44pm - Asian migrants ‘stuck in Saudi’ as Qatari bosses forced out

• Migrants from countries such as Bangladesh, India, Pakistan and Nepal employed to work as farmers and domestic staff in Saudi Arabia are stranded without shelter and access to money after a decision by the kingdom to expel their Qatari bosses, according to a human rights group.
• “There are a lot of migrant workers affected by this decision,” Ali Bin Smaikh al-Marri, chairman of Qatar’s National Human Rights Committee, told a news conference in Qatar’s capital, Doha.
• Marri said that many of those impacted were farmers who drive livestock between the two neighbouring countries.
• “Usually the workers travel with Qataris - many Qataris employ farmers and travel with their domestic workers and drivers,” he added. “The workers were not allowed to travel into Qatar and now they are living illegally in Saudi Arabia and do not have basic needs. They have no shelter and cannot access money.”
  

  8:24pm - Qatar to to hire Swiss lawyers to sue Gulf blockade states

  • Qatar’s National Human Rights Commission says it will employ a Swiss law firm to seek compensation for those affected by a decision of Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain to cut ties with Doha and impose a blockade against it.
  • “The three countries are responsible to compensate those affected,” Ali Bin Smaikh al-Marri, chairman of the commission, told a news conference, adding many Qataris qualified for compensation.
  • “Some cases will be filed in courts in those three countries and in some courts that have international jurisdictions, like in Europe, related to compensation.”
  • Marri did not say which Swiss firm would be employed, but said a statement would be released in the near future.

  5:13pm - Tillerson calls Gulf sides to ‘exercise restraint’

  • US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson has issued a new call for a diplomatic resolution to the Gulf crisis after a meeting with Sheikh Mohammad Abdullah Al-Mubarak Al-Sabah, Kuwait’s minister of state for cabinet affairs and acting minister of information.
  • The top US diplomat also renewed Washington’s support for Kuwait’s mediation efforts to defuse the crisis.
  • “During the meeting the leaders reaffirmed the need for all parties to exercise restraint to allow for productive diplomatic discussions.,” read a statement issued by the US State Department after the talks in Washington, DC.
  • “Negotiations to resolve the current crisis in the Gulf is the best way to resolve the conflict,” the statement added.

  3:00pm - UN rights expert: Demand to close Al Jazeera a ‘threat to media freedom’

  • A United Nations media rights expert has rejected the demand of a Saudi-led group of countries to close Al Jazeera, saying it would be “a major blow to media pluralism”.
  • David Kaye, the UN Special Rapporteur on freedom of opinion and expression, said in a statement that the demand “represents a serious threat to media freedom if states, under the pretext of a diplomatic crisis, take measures to force the dismantling of Al Jazeera”.
  • Kaye also called on “the international community to urge these governments not to pursue this demand against Qatar, to resist taking steps to censor media in their own territory and regionally, and to encourage support for independent media in the Middle East”.

  8:05am - UAE envoy to Russia: ‘We don’t claim to have press freedom’

  • Asked if he believed the closure of Al Jazeera was a “reasonable demand” by Saudi Arabia and its allies, the UAE’s ambassador to Russia told the Guardian newspaper: “We do not claim to have press freedom. We do not promote the idea of press freedom. What we talk about is responsibility in speech.”
  • Omar Ghobash also said: “Freedom of speech has different constraints in different places. Speech in our part of the world has a particular context, and that context can go from peaceful to violent in no time simply because of worlds that are spoken.

  7:55am - UAE ambassador to Russia says further sanctions against Qatar ‘available’

  • The UAE’s ambassador to Russia has said expelling Qatar from the GCC is “not the only sanction available”.
  • Omar Ghobash, speaking to The Guardian newspaper, said there are “certain economic sanctions” the UAE and its allies can take which “are being considered right now”. He said among these was imposing “conditions on trade partners”.
  • He added: “If Qatar was not willing to accept the demands, it is a case of ‘Goodbye Qatar’ we do not need you in our tent anymore.”

  1:45am - Saudi-led list unacceptable and not backed by proof, says Qatar’s FM

  • The foreign minister of Qatar has rejected a list of demands submitted by four Arab countries as unacceptable and said that Doha agrees with the US that they should push for a “rational” solution to the crisis.
  • The comments on Tuesday by Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani came after a meeting with his US counterpart, Rex Tillerson, in Washington, DC.
  • “What has been presented by the countries of the blockade are merely claims that are not proved by evidence and are not demands,” said Al Thani, adding: “The demands must be realistic and enforceable. Anything else is rejected.”