The illegal siege of Qatar by neighbouring GCC countries, which began on June 5, took an interesting turn yesterday with Qatar forming a committee to claim compensation for individuals and companies from blockading countries.

The committee will seek to pursue compensation for potentially billions of dollars for damages stemming from the blockade imposed by Bahrain, Saudi Arabia and the UAE, reported Al Jazeera.

Qatar's attorney general Ali bin Fetais Al Marri said on Sunday that the Compensation Claims Committee would handle claims made by private companies, including bigger firms like Qatar Airways, public institutions and individuals and use both domestic and international mechanisms to seek compensation.

Overseas law firms will also be hired to handle its claims.

“You’ve people who’ve sustained damages, businessmen who’ve sustained damages, banks which have sustained damages as a result of this blockade. And those who compelled these damages to happen must pay compensation for them,” he said.

Members of the newly-formed committee will include Qatar’s minister of justice and minister of foreign affairs.

The new Committee shall be considered as a central committee to receive all types of complaints, grievances and requests relating to the siege. It will also be the sole Committee to follow up damage cases raised by all partiers. The Committee will also be permanent and its mission will not end with the end of the crisis, reported The Peninsula.

From a legal point of view, each file submitted to the committee will be studied and decided upon separately, taking into account its specificities in terms of violation or damage to the plaintiff, Al Marri said.

Thousands of citizens had been affected by the ongoing siege, which is also the worst diplomatic crisis to have hit Doha in recent years.

Doha’s National Human Rights Committee (NHRC) in June said the sanctions represented a violation of the rights of some 140 Qatari pupils studying in the UAE, Saudi Arabia and Bahrain. The NHRC had also said that it would hire a Swiss law firm to sue blockading countries for the grievances it caused people.   

On June 22, the four Arab states issued Doha with a 13-point list of demands, including downgrading ties with Iran and shutting down broadcaster Al Jazeera, as a prerequisite to lift the sanctions. 

However, Doha refused to comply saying it was nothing more than baseless accusations and hence unacceptable.