Arabic press review: War of words grows louder in the Gulf

UAE newspaper: Qatar has to change its policies

The media war between Saudi and Emirati-owned press and Qatar continued to intensify on Monday with newspapers demanding that Doha disown the Muslim Brotherhood and close down its main media outlet Al Jazeera.

Khaleej, the Emirati state-owned newspaper from Sharjah, published a front page editorial saying that the recent crisis between Qatar on one side, and Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates on the other side, was the "straw that broke the camel's back" and revealed the real cause of the tension between the three Gulf neighbours. 

'It is proven that the channel adopts the ideology of the Muslim Brotherhood and its hatred against the UAE'

- Khaleej newspaper

The editorial said: "The people of the Arab Gulf and the Arabs want Qatar to give up its declared embracement of the Muslim Brotherhood movement and who belong to it.

"They also want Qatar to get rid of the strange and oppressive policy against Egypt. People of the Arab Gulf want also Qatar to abandon its horns and media outlets that are operating against its region and its nation.

"The people of the Gulf and the Arabs want Qatar to actually and not verbally go back to the Gulf system."

The editorial claimed that what it called "the people of Gulf" wanted Doha to close Al Jazeera. It claimed: "It is proven that the channel adopts the ideology of the Muslim Brotherhood and its hatred against the UAE."

Qatar extradites wanted person to Saudi Arabia 

The Qatari newspaper al-Arab carried on its front page confirmation of the extradition of a Saudi national wanted by Riyadh. It quoted a source in the Qatari foreign ministry confirming the extradition of Mohammed Abdullah al-Otaibi.

The Qatari source said this the extradition went ahead last Wednesday, which was the day the media assault against Doha broke out.

On Monday, the Qatari national news agency, QNA, quoted the government as saying: "The extradition was... based on legal procedures and regional and international agreements relating to the extradition of accused persons and criminals."

Otaibi is a human rights campaigner. Human Rights Watch warned in April that he would be at risk of a long prison sentence and possible ill-treatment if forcibly returned to Saudi Arabia.

Tunisia campaigns against corruption

The Tunisian press is preoccupied with the campaign against corruption and corrupt political money in that country. Al-Chourouk’s columnist, Khaled al-Haddad, wrote: "The general decline in our country in recent years is in fact the outcome of the terrible confusion between corrupt money and politics.

"This is because competent people lost their jobs and the requirements of transparency and fair management of the state’s affairs were violated, all of which made matters worse."

"If political corruption is fought, that is to say if corrupt money can be taken out of politics, there will be a new political transition, and this is certain. The political elite could gain the reputation of being able to solve problems, and stand up to the pressures, constraints and temptations, which our country suffered for a long time."

Algeria: Minister dismissed for criminal record

London-based al-Quds al-Arabi newspaper published a report revealing the reasons a minister was dismissed just two days after being appointed.

The newspaper said the president, Abdelaziz Bouteflika, dismissed Massoud Ben Akoun as minister of tourism after he discovered he had no experience, had previously been unemployed and had a serious criminal record.

According to the newspaper, the dismissed minister was being prosecuted and has already been sentenced to four prison terms, including a six-year sentence in prison. He also has been involved in numerous cases involving, among other things, blackmail.

The newspaper blamed Ben Akoun's party for the mistake. It concealed Ben Akoun’s past offences and the lack of a certificate confirmed a clean record, which all cabinet members need to show.