Sultan Qaboos Grand Mosque, Muscat, Sultanate of Oman, 2014 (Source: Richard Bartz/Wikimedia Commons)
OMAN
Our Concerns
- Crackdown on freedom of expression through press censorship and monitoring of social media;
- Prosecution and intimidation of peaceful dissidents, political opponents and human right defenders as well as reprisals against their families.
The Sultanate of Oman faced several challenges to its regional and internal stability in 2017. At the domestic level, the Omani economy struggled to reduce its large public debt resulting from persistently low oil prices. At the international level, Oman faced increased pressure from Saudi Arabia, the UAE, and the U.S. to abandon its traditionally neutral and non-interventionist foreign policy, particularly with regards to Iran. Nonetheless, Muscat maintained its decision not to take part in the Saudi-led military campaign in Yemen, and did not take sides in the diplomatic dispute between Saudi Arabia and its allies and Qatar.
Meanwhile, the authorities continued to intimidate and silence all dissenting voices, creating a climate of fear in the country. The Omani authorities censored publications and media outlets, and monitored private mobile phone calls, emails and chat rooms. In June, an investigation by BBC Arabic uncovered evidence that several Arab countries, including Oman, acquired sophisticated mass surveillance technology from the Danish branch of the UK defence giant BAE Systems. Reportedly, BAE sold an offensive cyber technology – the software “Evidence” – to Oman, allowing the authorities to listen to private conversations, read emails and detect the movements of targeted individuals. Such cyber-surveillance tools, along with repressive legislation such as the Cybercrime Law, put activists and critics of the government at risk of being prosecuted with harsh prison sentences for the peaceful exercise of their freedom of opinion and expression.
Crackdown on freedom of the press
In 2017, the Omani authorities further restricted freedom of the media by subjecting journalists critical of the authorities to acts of retaliation and intimidation, including through arbitrary arrests and the revocation of their licences. Several journalists were charged with “defaming the Sultan” or “using information technology to publish material harmful to public order”, criminalised under article 126 of the Penal Code and article 19 of the Cybercrime Law, respectively, and punished with up to three years in prison. Such practices are illustrated by the case of Omani journalist Fatma Al Araimi, who worked as a correspondent for the Reuters News Agency and had her accreditation withdrawn on January 12, 2017, by the Ministry of Information. This decision came days after Reuters published her report on a secret multi-billion bail-out Oman requested from rich Gulf States to avoid devaluation, an allegation the Omani government denied.
“In 2017, the Omani authorities further restricted freedom of the media by subjecting journalists critical of the authorities to acts of retaliation and intimidation, including through arbitrary arrests and the revocation of their licences.”
Moreover, newspapers and other publications exposing corruption or criticising government policies were also banned. On May 3, the authorities blocked the website of the online magazine Al Mowatin just as it resumed publication on the occasion of World Press Freedom Day. Al Mowatin had decided to suspend publications in 2016, after repeated episodes of harassment against its staff by the security forces.
In October, the highest judicial authorities in Oman ordered the permanent closure of Al Zaman, an independent newspaper that was previously subjected to acts of reprisals for its critical reporting. For example, the Omani newspaper was closed for a month in 2011 on charges of “defaming” and “insulting the dignity” of the Minister of Justice and his deputy. On August 9, 2016, the Ministry of Information issued an order to halt the circulation and publication of the newspaper indefinitely, after it had published an article critical of the judiciary and a series of reports on government corruption. On October 5, 2017, after a long legal dispute between Al Zaman and the Omani authorities, the Supreme Court – which was accused of corruption by Al Zaman in the first place – overturned a previous judgement of the Court of Appeal and ordered the permanent closure of the newspaper..
Reprisals against human rights defenders
Several cases of reprisals – particularly through the imposition of travel bans and the confiscation of passports – were reported against peaceful dissidents in 2017. While several prominent Omani activists have sought political asylum abroad in the past few years, the authorities have increasingly confiscated passports to prevent human rights defenders from leaving the country. As a result, once released from prison, peaceful activists are forced to stay in Oman and are thus exposed to the threat of renewed arrest or other acts of reprisals. This way, Oman is both silencing civil society inside the country and preventing activists from voicing criticism abroad.
Such is the case of Hamoud Al Shukaili, a writer and novelist who was arrested in August 2016 because of a poem he had posted on Facebook. Despite having completed his sentence in January 2017, the authorities imposed a travel ban on him and seized his passport shortly after. Similarly, prisoner of conscience Hilal Al Busaidi has been banned from travelling since 2014, despite having been released from prison in June 2015, and having repeatedly submitted requests to receive medical treatment abroad.
Moreover, the authorities increasingly subjected relatives of prominent activists who sought asylum abroad to travel bans, in a clear instance of intimidation and retaliation for their peaceful activism. For example, in June 2015, Mohammed Al Fazari, the founder and editor-in-chief of Al Mowatin, fled his country and sought asylum in the United Kingdom. A few days later, the police arrested his brother, Mahmoud Al Fazari, and detained him for three weeks without charge. More recently, in January 2017, the Omani authorities stopped Al Fazari’s wife, his 3-year-old daughter, and his 1-year-old son at the Oman-United Arab Emirates border and confiscated their passports, without providing any explanation.
UN group denounces press censorship and arbitrary detention of journalist Yousuf Al Haj
On November 24, 2017, upon Alkarama’s request, the UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention (WGAD) adopted Opinion No. 94/2017 on the case of Al Zaman editor Yousuf Al Balouchi, commonly known under the pen-name of Yousuf Al Haj. In their decision, the UN experts established a posteriori the arbitrary nature of Al Haj’s detention, expressing concern over the fact that “his conviction may serve as the legal precedent for the arrest, detention and punishment or threat thereof to silence critics in the future.”
Al Haj was arrested and prosecuted for an article he wrote – published on July 27, 2016 on the front page of Al Zaman – on corruption at the highest level of Oman’s judiciary. On August 9, 2016, the government issued a publication ban on Al Zaman newspaper, and detained Yousuf Al Haj – having previously arrested chief editor Ibrahim Al Maamari and journalist Zaher Al Abri – charging him with, among other charges, “publishing what might be prejudicial to public security” and “contempt for the judiciary”. On December 26, 2016, the Court of Appeal of Muscat issued the final ruling on Al Haj’s case, sentencing him to a one-year prison term. He was released on October 23, 2017.
After reviewing his case, the WGAD found that the Omani authorities violated guarantees of fair trial and due process, rendering Al Haj’s detention arbitrary. As a matter of fact, he was arrested without a warrant, held incommunicado for several days, and, once brought before the court of first instance, mocked by the judge and denied the right to bring defence witnesses.
The UN experts also underlined that the charges against Al Haj were “clearly connected to his activity as a journalist” and that his detention resulted from the exercise of his fundamental right to freedom of expression. In this regard, the Working Group rebuked Oman’s claim that the expression of Al Haj’s opinions needed to be restricted because they were deemed to be “harmful and unlawful”. The UN experts stressed that all public figures should be legitimately subjected to criticism, while the government has a duty to “respect, protect and fulfil the right to freedom of opinion and expression, even if the right-holder is not of its liking”.
Finding that the state had violated the fundamental rights and freedoms of Yousuf Al Haj, the WGAD called upon the Omani authorities to accord him and his two colleagues the enforceable right to compensation. The experts also urged Oman to ratify the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) and to amend national legislation which criminalises peaceful dissent.