Qatar Historically, the Al Murrah tribe made up a large proportion of Qatar's ethnic population. In 1885, a number of Al Murrah tribespeople, along with several members from the
Bani Hajer tribe, renounced their allegiance to Qatar and departed from the country. The two families were joined by the
Ajman tribe, who were known to harbor hostilities toward Qatar and regularly engage in skirmishes with its inhabitants. While the group was encamped in an area between Qatar and
Oman, a regiment of 1,200 partisans composed of branches of Al Murrah and Bani Hajer loyal to the sheikh of Qatar engaged the group. Although the three tribes boasted a combined force of 2,000 men and outnumbered the opposition, they were inflicted with heavy losses. A majority of tribe members were strong supporters of Sheikh
Khalifa Al Thani, the former Emir of Qatar who was deposed in 1995 in a coup by his son. Eight months after the coup, 119 Al Murrah members attempted to overthrow the new Emir of Qatar, Sheikh
Hamad Al Thani, but failed. In February 2000, 19 of the alleged perpetrators were sentenced to death, 33 were sentenced to life in prison, and the rest were acquitted. However, none of those sentenced to death were executed. In 2017, Qatar revoked the citizenship of the sheikh and 54 tribespeople. The Al Murrah are friendly to the UAE and Saudi Arabia and oppose the current regime in Iran. Al Murrah tribespeople were not allowed to run for the
2021 Qatari general election, which led to protests. ==References==