Bahrain Mirror: Former Qatari Foreign Minister Hamad bin Jassim Al-Thani said that Bahrain's King Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa personally and directly prevented him from meeting Bahrain's opposition leader and Al-Wefaq Secretary General, Sheikh Ali Salman, during his visit to Bahrain.

He added in an interview with the "Black Box" program, aired through the Kuwaiti Al-Qabas newspaper application, that his trip to Bahrain was in coordination with former U.S. assistant secretary of state Jeffrey Feltman, former Saudi Foreign Minister Saud Al-Faisal, and former Bahraini Foreign Minister Khalid Al Khalifa, who was informed of Hamad bin Jassim's prior contact with Sheikh Ali Salman.

He also explained that while he was with Saud Al-Faisal at the King of Bahrain, he asked him to go directly to meet Sheikh Ali Salman, pointing out that the King of Bahrain tried to dissuade him not to go, but did prevent him. Jassim asked for the King's permission to leave the council to make a phone call with Sheikh Ali Salman to tell him that he is going to see him, however, a few minutes after rejoining the meeting, the king asked Hamad bin Jassim not to go to that meeting.

Bin Jassim said he tried to convince the king, but to no avail, and then he discovered that Saudi forces decided to come to Bahrain and that the matter was discussed (between the King of Bahrain and Saudi Foreign Minister Saud Al-Faisal) while he was making the call.

He said Qatar was put in an embarrassing position in the face of the fait accompli, so it had to agree to join the Saudi forces under the cover of (the Peninsula Shield), and sent 6 Qatari officers for observation, and later withdrew them, after Saudi forces used force to break up the sit-in in the Lualua roundabout.

Hamad bin Jassim also spoke of pressure exerted on Kuwait to participate in those forces that crushed protests in Bahrain, but Kuwait rejected and did not see any reason for it. He reiterated that Qatar believed at the time that the issue could have been addressed without resorting to force and peacefully.

Arabic Version