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Ammon News - AMMONNEWS - Saudi Arabia, Bahrain and the United Arab Emirates on Wednesday recalled their envoys to Qatar.

In a Saudi Press Agency statement, the three countries said the move was taken to "to protect their security and stability."

The trio also said that Qatar had not “committed to the principles” of the six-member Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC), and said "Qatar has to take the appropriate steps to ensure the security of the GCC states."

The three Gulf Arab states made the decision following what newspapers described as a "stormy" late Tuesday meeting of foreign ministers from the six-nation Gulf Cooperation Council in Riyadh.


A security agreement signed last year by the GCC focused on cooperation in the exchange of information and tracking down of criminals and those who violate the law.

Earlier on Wednesday, a Qatar rights body said it will pursue the release of a citizen who was jailed seven years over links to an Islamist group in an "unfair" UAE ruling, local media reported.

The move came a month after Abu Dhabi summoned the Qatari ambassador to the UAE, Faris al-Nuaimi on Sunday, and gave him a memorandum protesting statements made by the Doha-based religious cleric Yusuf al-Qaradawi against the Gulf state.

In recent months, the UAE also jailed a group of 30 Emiratis and Egyptians to terms ranging from three months to five years for forming a Muslim Brotherhood cell.

The Brotherhood is banned in much of the region, and the UAE, Kuwait and Saudi Arabia pledged billions of dollars in aid to Egypt after the overthrow of Islamist Egyptian President Mohammad Mursi, who hails from the Islamist organization.

*Alarabiya