Manama cancels passport of Sheikh Hamad Bin Jasem Bin Hamad

The Gulf News Agency said that Bahrain has decided to cancel the diplomatic passport offered to one of the relatives of the emir of Qatar, accused of attempting to overthrow the emir in 1996.

A spokesman for the Bahraini Foreign Ministry said that the state of Bahrain has informed the Foreign Ministry in Qatar of its decision to cancel the diplomatic transport offered to Sheikh Hamad Bin Jasem Bin Hamad al-Thani.

The spokesman said that the state of Bahrain, due to the "family relations between the two sisterly countries, Bahrain and Qatar," has responded to the request made by Sheikh Hamad to "return his passport to Manama."

Hamad Bin Jasem al-Thani, the main suspect in the foiled coup of 1996, was arrested on July 23 in Doha after he spent four years in exile. He was brought before a Qatari court.