David Amess: UK police investigating if MP killed over Qatar links

UK police are investigating whether a member of parliament was murdered because of his links to Qatar, the Times reported on Sunday.

David Amess, a Conservative MP for Leigh-on-Sea in England, was stabbed to death on Friday while meeting constituents. 

The UK police said they were treating the murder as a terrorist incident, and detained a 25-year-old man identified as Ali Harbi Ali over Amess's death under the Terrorism Act. 

Security sources told the Times they were exploring various avenues to understand the motives behind Amess' murder, including his links to the Gulf state. 

"It was the last issue that Amess tweeted about. Police are looking at it," the source said. 

Amess had served as the head of the all-party parliamentary group for Qatar. Amess had most recently visited the Gulf state on 9 and 10 October, when he met Qatar's emir, Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani.

Thani expressed his condolences and described Amess' death as a "tragic loss".

"We remember with great appreciation his efforts to advance the historic relations between our two nations. Our sincerest condolences to his family, friends and the British people," Thani wrote. 

However, a source in the UK government told the Times that a "specific, clear reason on why he was targeted has not been established".

Amess was known for his campaign to make Southend a city, and spoke about it regularly in parliament. 

Last week, he had told BBC Radio Essex said he hoped Doha would consider investing in his constituency if Southend was awarded city status. 

"It's a no-brainer, the benefits are enormous. We're engaging local residents with the situation, we've got some great events planned, and we've got a wonderful team of people who are putting our bid together, so I'm really excited about the prospect," Amess said at the time. 

His death was the second killing of a British MP in five years, following the murder of Jo Cox, a Labour MP, by a right-wing militant during the Brexit referendum in 2016.