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Who will benefit from Qatar’s asylum law?

Although Qatari-Egyptian ties have been strained since the ouster of Muslim Brotherhood President Mohammed Morsi, Qatar’s asylum law was followed with a ministerial decision that would not only protect Egyptian fugitives, but also ease their financial burden.
Qatar's Minister of State for Foreign Affairs Sultan bin Saad al-Muraikhi (R) attends a meeting of the Arab League Foreign Ministers in the Egyptian capital Cairo on March 6, 2019. (Photo by Khaled DESOUKI / AFP)        (Photo credit should read KHALED DESOUKI/AFP/Getty Images)
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CAIRO — Nine months after Law No. 11 was issued in September 2018 regulating political asylum, Qatar’s council of ministers unveiled May 23 the relevant conditions and requirements.

Political asylum was expanded to include politicians and fugitives involved in political cases and human rights advocates fleeing their country of origin. Under the decision, media correspondents, journalists and human rights advocates who are being prosecuted and threatened in their country of origin; politicians who are members of political parties, sects and religious groups; and writers, researchers, and former and current government officials who oppose their governments are now allowed to seek asylum in Qatar.

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