A senior executive with Qatar’s TV network Al Jazeera was closely involved with setting up the London news website Middle East Eye, some of whose staff have links to organisations sympathetic to the Muslim Brotherhood.
Jonathan Powell, an Al Jazeera employee since 2009, spent several months in the UK working on Middle East Eye, which promised “independently produced news, analysis and opinion” at its launch in April. MEE claims to have “no political master, movement or country”.
David Hearst, editor of Middle East Eye and a former foreign correspondent for The Guardian, last week refused to give details about the site's funding, saying only that his backers were "individual private donors" who were "interested in democracy in the Middle East".
He also refused to provide any information about the nationalities of those behind Middle East Eye but confirmed he was headhunted for the post of editor.
The questions were put to him as part of an investigation by The National that revealed connections between the Muslim Brotherhood and media coverage in the UK critical of the UAE.
Mr Powell is understood to have spent up to six months in London between September last year and February 13 as a launch consultant for Middle East Eye.
The news organisation was created as a company in early December last year, registered to an address in North London.
Its website was registered by Adlin Adnan, a Middle East Eye employee, to a different address in Central London at the end of that month.
Mr Powell has since returned to Doha, assigned to special projects for Al Jazeera’s chairman’s office.
The chairman of Al Jazeera is Hamad bin Thamer Al Thani, a cousin of the previous emir of Qatar, Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani.
Mr Powell also registered separate websites for themiddleeasteye.com and themiddleeasteye.net in January this year. Both were registered to a Doha address but are not active.
Al Jazeera did not respond to several requests for comment about the extent of its involvement in Middle East Eye.
The Qatari broadcaster’s connection to Middle East Eye also includes Jamal Bassasso, a former director of planning and human resources at Al Jazeera.
Mr Bassasso, a Palestinian born in Kuwait and now living in London, is sole director of MEE Ltd, the company that owns Middle East Eye.
He is also a former director for Samalink TV in Lebanon, the registered agent for the website of the Hamas-controlled Al Quds TV.
Mr Hearst has denied that Mr Bassasso is the real owner of Middle East Eye, describing him only as “a colleague and the head of human resources and the legal director”.
Mr Bassasso had also worked for a Dubai property company with Anas Mekdad, another Palestinian with connections to Al Islah, the UAE wing of the Muslim Brotherhood, several of whose members are serving prison sentences for trying to overthrow the Government.
Now living in the UK, Mr Mekdad is the founder of the Islamist web forum AlMakeem Network, which has praised Hamas suicide bombers, and continues to use his Twitter stream in support of convicted UAE members of Al Islah.
Mr Bassasso has also contributed to AlMakeem Network.
A day after the publication of The National's investigation, Mr Hearst posted an interview from the offices of Middle East Eye on YouTube, repeating that the company was not linked to any government or movement. Saying his staff came from varied backgrounds and that "some are activists", he added: "The moment they come through this door they become journalists."
The company employs about 20 full-time staff in its London offices and has a network of freelancers.
Mr Hearst said it was created with “start-up money” but that “the business plan was to become a provider of news”.
Among those employed by Middle East Eye is Rori Donaghy, former director of the Emirates Centre For Human Rights, based in London, which has attacked the UAE’s human rights record on the BBC and other leading news organisations.
It also offered to pay demonstrators to protest outside the UAE Embassy in London. The ECHR was set up with the assistance of Anas Altikriti, the founder of the Cordoba Foundation.
Cordoba this month placed an advertisement in a London newspaper claiming that the UAE was trying to pressure the UK government into banning Muslim Brotherhood activities there.
Mr Altikriti employed Mr Donaghy as the director of ECHR. After his departure to Middle East Eye, he was replaced by Mr Mekdad of the AlMakeem Network. Last week the website for ECHR was taken down, apparently by Mr Donaghy.
* After the publication of this story, Al Jazeera contacted The National with the following statements:
Jonathan Powell said: “I left Al Jazeera last year to pursue a new opportunity but later returned after being offered a new role. I have a lot of experience in launching media organisations and was brought on as a consultant by Middle East Eye. This was entirely separate to my work with Al Jazeera.”
An Al Jazeera spokesperson said: “Al Jazeera has no relationship with the Middle East Eye.”
jlangton@thenational.ae
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
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ELIO
Starring: Yonas Kibreab, Zoe Saldana, Brad Garrett
Directors: Madeline Sharafian, Domee Shi, Adrian Molina
Rating: 4/5
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Ferrari 12Cilindri specs
Engine: naturally aspirated 6.5-liter V12
Power: 819hp
Torque: 678Nm at 7,250rpm
Price: From Dh1,700,000
Available: Now
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
The specs: Lamborghini Aventador SVJ
Price, base: Dh1,731,672
Engine: 6.5-litre V12
Gearbox: Seven-speed automatic
Power: 770hp @ 8,500rpm
Torque: 720Nm @ 6,750rpm
Fuel economy: 19.6L / 100km
Health Valley
Founded in 2002 and set up as a foundation in 2006, Health Valley has been an innovation in healthcare for more than 10 years in Nijmegen, the Netherlands.
It serves as a place where companies, businesses, universities, healthcare providers and government agencies can collaborate, offering a platform where they can connect and work together on healthcare innovation.
Its partners work on technological innovation, new forms of diagnostics and other methods to make a difference in healthcare.
Its agency consists of eight people, four innovation managers and office managers, two communication advisers and one director. It gives innovation support to businesses and other parties in its network like a broker, connecting people with the right organisation to help them further
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ESSENTIALS
The flights
Emirates flies from Dubai to Phnom Penh via Yangon from Dh2,700 return including taxes. Cambodia Bayon Airlines and Cambodia Angkor Air offer return flights from Phnom Penh to Siem Reap from Dh250 return including taxes. The flight takes about 45 minutes.
The hotels
Rooms at the Raffles Le Royal in Phnom Penh cost from $225 (Dh826) per night including taxes. Rooms at the Grand Hotel d'Angkor cost from $261 (Dh960) per night including taxes.
The tours
A cyclo architecture tour of Phnom Penh costs from $20 (Dh75) per person for about three hours, with Khmer Architecture Tours. Tailor-made tours of all of Cambodia, or sites like Angkor alone, can be arranged by About Asia Travel. Emirates Holidays also offers packages.
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Cryopreservation: A timeline
- Keyhole surgery under general anaesthetic
- Ovarian tissue surgically removed
- Tissue processed in a high-tech facility
- Tissue re-implanted at a time of the patient’s choosing
- Full hormone production regained within 4-6 months
The specs: 2018 Nissan 370Z Nismo
The specs: 2018 Nissan 370Z Nismo
Price, base / as tested: Dh182,178
Engine: 3.7-litre V6
Power: 350hp @ 7,400rpm
Torque: 374Nm @ 5,200rpm
Transmission: Seven-speed automatic
Fuel consumption, combined: 10.5L / 100km
Usain Bolt's World Championships record
2007 Osaka
200m Silver
4x100m relay Silver
2009 Berlin
100m Gold
200m Gold
4x100m relay Gold
2011 Daegu
100m Disqualified in final for false start
200m Gold
4x100m relay Gold
2013 Moscow
100m Gold
200m Gold
4x100m relay Gold
2015 Beijing
100m Gold
200m Gold
4x100m relay Gold
The specs
Engine: 3-litre twin-turbo V6
Power: 400hp
Torque: 475Nm
Transmission: 9-speed automatic
Price: From Dh215,900
On sale: Now
Results
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Chinese Grand Prix schedule (in UAE time)
Friday: First practice - 6am; Second practice - 10am
Saturday: Final practice - 7am; Qualifying - 10am
Sunday: Chinese Grand Prix - 10.10am
Killing of Qassem Suleimani
Benefits of first-time home buyers' scheme
- Priority access to new homes from participating developers
- Discounts on sales price of off-plan units
- Flexible payment plans from developers
- Mortgages with better interest rates, faster approval times and reduced fees
- DLD registration fee can be paid through banks or credit cards at zero interest rates
more from Janine di Giovanni
Sole survivors
- Cecelia Crocker was on board Northwest Airlines Flight 255 in 1987 when it crashed in Detroit, killing 154 people, including her parents and brother. The plane had hit a light pole on take off
- George Lamson Jr, from Minnesota, was on a Galaxy Airlines flight that crashed in Reno in 1985, killing 68 people. His entire seat was launched out of the plane
- Bahia Bakari, then 12, survived when a Yemenia Airways flight crashed near the Comoros in 2009, killing 152. She was found clinging to wreckage after floating in the ocean for 13 hours.
- Jim Polehinke was the co-pilot and sole survivor of a 2006 Comair flight that crashed in Lexington, Kentucky, killing 49.
Tearful appearance
Chancellor Rachel Reeves set markets on edge as she appeared visibly distraught in parliament on Wednesday.
Legislative setbacks for the government have blown a new hole in the budgetary calculations at a time when the deficit is stubbornly large and the economy is struggling to grow.
She appeared with Keir Starmer on Thursday and the pair embraced, but he had failed to give her his backing as she cried a day earlier.
A spokesman said her upset demeanour was due to a personal matter.
Result
6.30pm: Al Maktoum Challenge Round-3 – Group 1 (PA) $65,000 (Dirt) 2,000m; Winner: Brraq, Ryan Curatolo (jockey), Jean-Claude Pecout (trainer)
7.05pm: Handicap (TB) $65,000 (Turf) 1,800m; Winner: Bright Melody, James Doyle, Charlie Appleby
7.40pm: Meydan Classic – Listed (TB) $88,000 (T) 1,600m; Winner: Naval Crown, Mickael Barzalona, Charlie Appleby
8.15pm: Nad Al Sheba Trophy – Group 3 (TB) $195,000 (T) 2,810m; Winner: Volcanic Sky, Frankie Dettori, Saeed bin Suroor
8.50pm: Dubai Millennium Stakes – Group 3 (TB) $130,000 (T) 2,000m; Winner: Star Safari, William Buick, Charlie Appleby
9.25pm: Meydan Challenge – Listed Handicap (TB) $88,000 (T) 1,400m; Winner: Zainhom, Dane O’Neill, Musabah Al Muhairi
MOUNTAINHEAD REVIEW
Starring: Ramy Youssef, Steve Carell, Jason Schwartzman
Director: Jesse Armstrong
Rating: 3.5/5
Mohammed bin Zayed Majlis
Zayed Sustainability Prize
Zayed Sustainability Prize
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2025 Fifa Club World Cup groups
Group A: Palmeiras, Porto, Al Ahly, Inter Miami.
Group B: Paris Saint-Germain, Atletico Madrid, Botafogo, Seattle.
Group C: Bayern Munich, Auckland City, Boca Juniors, Benfica.
Group D: Flamengo, ES Tunis, Chelsea, Leon.
Group E: River Plate, Urawa, Monterrey, Inter Milan.
Group F: Fluminense, Borussia Dortmund, Ulsan, Mamelodi Sundowns.
Group G: Manchester City, Wydad, Al Ain, Juventus.
Group H: Real Madrid, Al Hilal, Pachuca, Salzburg.
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