The 1996 Coup

The 1996 Coup In June 2017, Qatar was put under siege. Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain and Egypt cut diplomatic, trade, and travel ties with this tiny, yet gas-rich country in the Persian Gulf.

The anti-Qatar quartet accused Doha of funding terrorism and fostering instability in the region. Qatar argued that the show was all to impinge on its national sovereignty and in fact the continuation of a fiendish plot hatched as early as 1996.

Soon after his accession to the throne in 1995, the new Emir of Qatar Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani announced an end to press censorship and launched a satellite television station that allowed criticism of his government and others in the region, while taking steps towards a democratically elected parliament. Though still far from democracy, Qatar was setting a new example in the Arab world causing discomfort for its authoritarian Arab neighbors.

Moreover, Doha was sending signals of separation from the Saudi-led bloc in its foreign policy; an unforgivable sin in the eyes of Riyadh. So the Saudis along with their all-weather friends decided to take control of the situation by removing the unruly emir...

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