UN’s top court backs Qatar in air blockade dispute

The International Court of Justice (ICJ) has ruled in favour of Qatar in a dispute with four Arab countries that have imposed an air blockade against Doha since June 2017.

“The court unanimously rejects the appeal brought by the Kingdom of Bahrain, the Arab Republic of Egypt, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates,” ICJ Judge, Abdulqawi Ahmed Yusuf, said.

Qatar filed a complaint in October 2017 with the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) arguing Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Egypt and the UAE had violated the international convention on the free passage of passenger planes through foreign airspace.

The four countries rejected the ICAO’s jurisdiction in the dispute, but the ICJ has ruled the ICAO does have jurisdiction over the case.

“The parties … now that the council’s decision has been affirmed, they go back to the council (ICAO), and continue the case,” William Worster, an international law professor, explained. “And that’s when we get to the real heart of the matter, the real issues about have air services been interrupted.”

The blockading countries also stopped traffic by sea and over land.

“There are certain sanctions that the council may grant the State of Qatar,” agent of the State of Qatar at the ICJ, Mohammed Al-Khulaifi, said. “For example, not allowing those member states to vote in the general council, or even to certain extents participate in certain important meetings. And that will have its own harsh side effect on those states.”

Representatives of the four blockading nations left court without comment while Qatar welcomed the ruling.

The UAE Foreign Ministry later said it will now put its legal case to ICAO over the closure of its airspace to Qatari aircraft.

This video was produced and edited by Al Jazeera NewsFeed’s Hassan Ghani.