Further information on UA: 174/12 Index: MDE 20/003/2012 Oman Date: 17 August 2012
ANOTHER 20 ACTIVISTS SENTENCED TO PRISON
Twenty activists in Oman have been sentenced in August to prison on
charges related solely to the peaceful exercise of their rights to
freedom of expression and assembly. If they are imprisoned, Amnesty
International will consider them prisoners of conscience.
A court in the capital, Muscat, on 8 August
2012, sentenced 11 activists each to a year’s imprisonment and a fine of
200 Riyals (around US$520) for participating in a peaceful protest. A
twelfth man, Usama Aal Tawayya, received a one-year prison
sentence for insulting the Sultan. The 12, whom Amnesty International
would consider prisoners of conscience if they were sent to jail, were
released on bail on 11 August and will be appealing. Among them are
prominent activists Sa’eed al-Hashimi, Basimah al-Rajihi and lawyer Basma al-Kiyumi.
Muscat’s court of first instance had sentenced
eight other men on 6 August 2012 to one year's imprisonment and a fine
of 1000 Riyal (around US$2,600) on charges including insulting the
Sultan and using the internet to publish defamatory material. They were
also released on bail and will be appealing. Among them were Ahmed al-Ma’ammari, and Awad al-Sawafi. A woman on trial with them was acquitted.
At least 12 other people are still detained, with the next trial session scheduled for 26 August 2012. They include Ismail al-Muqbali, Nabhan al-Habshi, and Mukhtar al-Hinai.
In July 2012 at least seven activists had been
sentenced to imprisonment on similar charges: they have been released on
bail pending appeals. Trials began after a string of arrests of
writers, activists and bloggers in late May and early June 2012. So far
at least 35 people have been sentenced or are standing trial in relation
to the peaceful exercise of their rights to freedom of expression and
assembly.
Please write immediately in Arabic, English or your own language:
Calling on the authorities of Oman to release, immediately and
unconditionally, all detainees held solely for peacefully exercising
their rights to freedom of expression and assembly, as Amnesty
International considers them to be prisoners of conscience;
Calling on them to drop all charges, and quash all convictions,
related solely to the peaceful exercise of the rights to freedom of
expression and assembly;
Urging them to ensure that any legal proceedings in these cases conform to international fair trial standards.
PLEASE SEND APPEALS BEFORE 28 SEPTEMBER 2012 TO:
�
Head of State and Prime Minister
His Majesty Sultan Qaboos bin Sa’id Al Said
Diwan of the Royal Court
The Palace, Muscat 113
Sultanate of Oman
Fax: +968 24 735 375
Salutation: Your Majesty
Minister of the Interior
His Excellency Hamoud bin Faisal bin Said Al Busaidi
Minister of the Interior
Ministry of Interior
PO Box 127, Ruwi 112, Muscat
Sultanate of Oman
Salutation: Your Excellency
And copies to:
Chairman
Mr Mohammed bin Abdullah Al Riyami
National Human Rights Commission
P.O. Box 29, Postal Code: 103
Bareq A' Shati
Muscat, Sultanate of Oman
Fax: +968 24 648 801
Email: enquiry@nhrc.om�
Also send copies to diplomatic representatives accredited to your country. Please insert local diplomatic addresses below:
Name Address 1 Address 2 Address 3 Fax Fax number Email Email address Salutation Salutation
Please check with your section
office if sending appeals after the above date. This is the second
update of UA 174/12. Further information:
http://www.amnesty.org/en/library/info/mde20/001/2012 and
http://www.amnesty.org/en/library/info/mde20/002/2012
�
URGENT ACTION
Another 20 ACTIVISTS SENTENCED TO PRISON
ADditional Information
Protests in Oman in
January and February 2011, sparked by popular unrest across the Middle
East and North Africa, led to a number of government measures. In
response to protesters’ demands, on 27 February 2011, Oman’s head of
state, Sultan Qaboos, ordered the creation of 50,000 jobs and 150 Omani
riyals a month (about US$390) in benefits for the unemployed. On 7
March, Sultan Qaboos reshuffled and restructured the cabinet, sacking a
number of ministers.
However, the Omani
authorities have continued to maintain strict restrictions on freedom of
expression and assembly and protests against the authorities have
continued intermittently since March 2011. Protesters have voiced the
need for greater freedom of the press and for certain current and former
ministers to be held to account for offences they are alleged to have
committed while in office. Scores of protesters were arrested and many
brought to trial in 2011, while at least one man was reported to have
died when police forcibly dispersed protesters in the town of Sohar,
north of Oman.
The most recent arrests began
on 31 May 2012 when three activists were arrested when they tried to
travel to Fohoud oil field (about 250km south-west of Muscat), to
document an oil workers’ strike that had started a week earlier. The
three - lawyer Yaqoub al-Kharousi and activists Habeeba al-Hina’i and
Ismail al-Muqbali from the newly formed Omani Group for Human Rights -
were reportedly charged for inciting a protest. Habeeba al-Hina’i and
Yaqoub al-Kharousi were released on bail on 4 June, but Ismail
al-Muqbali is one of those still detained and facing trial.
Following this, more arrests
took place of writers and activists in early June. Shortly after the
arrests, the Public Prosecution issued a number of statements, one of
them on 4 June saying legal action would be taken against anyone who
published “offensive writing” in the media or online that was deemed to
be “inciting” others to action “under the “the pretext of freedom of
expression”.
Several of the activists
arrested in the recent crackdown were previously arrested in 2011. For
instance, prominent lawyer Basma al-Kiyumi, who was detained on 11 June
2012 and sentenced on 8 August, had been previously arrested on 14 May
2011 during a peaceful protest in front of the Shura Council in Muscat,
along with 14 others, and was released on bail two days later after
being charged with participating in an unlawful gathering.
The rights to freedom of
expression and assembly are guaranteed under international human rights
law and standards. Where restrictions are imposed they must be for
certain specific purposes, which include the rights and reputation of
others, and must be demonstrably necessary and proportionate and must
not put in jeopardy the right itself. Political public figures should
tolerate a greater degree of criticism, not less, than people generally,
and accordingly, criminal or other laws which provide special
protection against criticism for public officials are not consistent
with respect for freedom of expression.
See for more information Omani activists sentenced as crackdown on free speech continues (17 July 2012) at http://www.amnesty.org/en/news/omani-activists-sentenced-crackdown-free-speech-continues-2012-07-17 and Oman: Intolerance of dissent mounts as a dozen more activists sentenced (8 August 2012) at http://www.amnesty.org/en/news/oman-intolerance-dissent-mounts-dozen-more-activists-sentenced-2012-08-08
Names: Ahmed al-Ma’ammari (m), Awad al-Sawafi (m), Usama Aal Tawayya
(m), Sa’eed al-Hashimi (m), Basimah al-Rajihi (f), Basma al-Kiyumi (f),
Ismail al-Muqbali (m), Nabhan al-Habshi (m), and Mukhtar al-Hinai (m).
Further information on UA: 174/12 Index: MDE 20/003/2012 Issue Date: 17 August 2012
Basma al-Kiyumi © Private
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