Special to WorldTribune.com

ABU DHABI — Qatar has become the new host of fugitives from Egypt’s ousted Muslim Brotherhood with Qatar’s Al Jazeera media network said to be providing a key financing role for Brotherhood leaders.

Arab diplomats said scores of senior Brotherhood have escaped to Qatar over the last three months.

[Related article:  Al Jazeera’s terror ties of no concern to official Washington, U.S. state media – July 10, 2013]

They said the Gulf Cooperation Council emirate, a firm supporter of the ousted Islamist regime, has provided the Brotherhood with homes and stipends as well as the ability to sponsor protests in Egypt.

“Qatar has welcomed all of the Brotherhood operatives, but asked them to keep a low profile,” a diplomat said.

The Brotherhood leaders in Qatar include Ashraf Bader Eddin, Amer Darag and Hamza Zawba.

The diplomats said all of the leaders were funded through Qatar’s Al Jazeera television, with Zawba hired as a commentator for the Arabic satellite network.

The diplomats said a key lobbyist in Qatar has been Sheik Yusef Qaradawi, deemed the most popular Sunni
preacher and himself an exile from Egypt.

The Brotherhood has also found haven in another former ally of
Mohammed Morsi — Turkey. Turkey has been the only NATO state to consistently
criticize the military that overthrew Morsi and later reduced ties with
Cairo. Brotherhood operatives have also found exile in Britain, Pakistan and
Switzerland.

The diplomats said the haven in Qatar has dismayed other members of the
GCC. They cited Kuwait, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, which
have warned that the Brotherhood could destabilize the Gulf region.

Most of the Brotherhood was believed to have remained in Egypt and under
arrest. Egypt has detained more than 2,000 suspected Brotherhood
operatives since the coup against President Mohammed Morsi in July 2013.

The exile community in Qatar also included members of the Al
Qaida-inspired Salafist groups in Egypt.

Diplomats said Egypt has urged Qatar to expel the Brotherhood
operatives. They said the Egyptian intelligence community has been tracking
Brotherhood efforts to organize a global opposition to the coup against
Morsi, including funds to sustain an insurgency.

  Al-Jazeera, Amer Darag, Ashraf Bader Eddin, Hamza Zawba, Mohammed Morsi, Muslim Brotherhood leaders flee Egypt, Muslim Brotherhood’s new safe haven? Qatar, Sheik Yusef Qaradawi, welcomed in Qatar, with an assist from Al Jazeera