The highest U.N. court has rejected a request by the United Arab Emirates for interim measures to be imposed on Qatar in a racial discrimination dispute.

The case centers on the boycott of Qatar by Bahrain, Egypt, the UAE and Saudi Arabia, which were angry at Qatar's support for Islamists.

Qatar filed a case last year against UAE alleging that the boycott breaches an anti-discrimination convention. Judges issued an interim order that Qatari families separated by the UAE boycott must be allowed to reunite and Qatari students should be allowed to complete their education in the UAE.

On Friday, judges at the International Court of Justice rejected a UAE application to compel Qatar to unblock a website that enables family reunifications and to prevent state-run media from aggravating the dispute.