Oman: Release of Journalist Mohammed Al Fazari After 5 days of Incommunicado Detention

 

Alkarama welcomes the release, yesterday evening, of Mohammad Al Fazari, an Omani journalist and human rights activist, detained incommunicado for 5 days. Summoned to the Royal Omani Police headquarters in Muscat on 31 August 2014, he was immediately arrested without reason and detained in an unknown location. This arrest and detention happened just a week before the United Nations' Special Rapporteur for the Right to Peaceful Assembly and Association, Mr Maina Kiai's official visit to Oman to meet with the local civil society.

As the Editor in chief and founder of the electronic magazine Al Mowaten, an open platform to discuss subjects related to politics, rights and society, Al Fazari, has been defending the political and civil rights of Omani citizens for years.

Allowed one single call to his wife at the time of his arrest, Al Fazari had since been denied any visit from, or contact with, his lawyer or his family, and was detained in a secret place under the custody of the Internal Security Section of the Royal Omani Police. Worried that he may be subjected to torture during his detention, Alkarama sent an urgent appeal to the UN special procedures on human rights, including the Special Rapporteur on Torture, the Working Group on Arbitrary Detention, the Special Rapporteur on the Situation of Human Rights Defenders, and the Special Rapporteur on the Promotion and Protection on the Right to Freedom of Opinion and Expression, requesting them to intervene with the Omani authorities to release Al Fazari immediately.

Speaking about Al Fazari's arrest, Regional Legal Officer for the Gulf, Radidja Nemar, showed particular concern at the formulation used to justify Al Fazari's detention, based on 'reasons that concern him personally'. "This justification is surreal," she exclaimed, "it is not lawful under any law, whether domestic or international, to arrest someone on 'personal reasons'. Not only does it show the obvious arbitrary nature of his detention, but it also demonstrates that the Police and, in this precise case, its Internal Security section, is acting outside the realm of the law. This is a blatant violation of Oman's Basic Law (article 18) which guarantees the freedoms from arbitrary arrest and detention."

Alkarama hopes that Oman will consider the upcoming visit of the Special Rapporteur as an opportunity to stop the numerous reprisals that have been held against human rights defenders and anyone who publicly criticises or even questions the government's policies. Since 2011, Oman has experienced alarming reforms restraining civil and political liberties. Like many Arab countries, it has broadened its definition of crimes against the State security to include any political dissent or critique, thus creating a breeding ground for human rights violations and retaliation towards those who speak up against its policy." Not a party to any International Human Rights Treaty, Oman should access basic Human Rights Instruments, in particular the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) and the Convention against Torture (CAT).

For more information or an interview, please contact the media team at media@alkarama.org (Dir: +41 22 734 1007 Ext: 810)