Instead of imposing a blockade against Qatar and accusing it of supporting terrorism, Qatar’s blockade states should have worked on fighting terrorism and drying up its sources, the human rights activist and Nobel Peace Prize laureate Tawakkol Karman said.

 Karman in a statement posted on social media wrote saying, "Efforts to combat terrorism begins by eliminating the sources of terrorism as an extremist thought that should be replaced with an enlightening democratic thought, and pursuing sources of funding, away from political machinations and misusing the war on terror to be against political opponents.”

She added that the countries of the blockade will have a lot to do in this context, rather than being preoccupied with the list of onerous demands, stressing that such demands are nothing but arbitrary. 

"In the eyes of the West, the godfather of this term (terrorism), all of you are guilty and have no way to prove your innocence," Karman concluded by addressing the countries besieging Qatar. 

The Gulf region is experiencing considerable internal tension following the severing of all diplomatic relations and border closure between Qatar and the three Arab Gulf countries of Saudi Arabia, the UAE and Bahrain.

On June 23, 2017, the Saudi-led bloc issued a 13-point demand list in exchange for the end of the anti-Qatar measures and gave a 10-day deadline, which ends on July 3.

The list included, among others, that Qatar shut down the Al Jazeera media network, close a Turkish military base and scale down ties with Iran.