Articles for Oman

On 4 November 2014 Alkarama sent a communication to the Special Rapporteur on the rights to freedom of peaceful assembly and of association as well as the Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights defenders concerning the case of Said Ali Said Jadad, an Omani human rights defender victim of reprisal by the Omani security services.

Omani writer and blogger, Muawiya Alrawahi was released on 11 August after a month of detention including 28 days in the psychiatric department of Sultan Qaboos University Hospital. Arrested on 12 July 2014 for criticizing the Omani authorities on his blog, Alrawahi was transferred to the hospital where he remained under the custody of police officers.

Noah Al Saadi, a 32-year-old Human Rights Defender has been released today by the Omani Police. He was arrested on 13 July 2014 by the Special Security Police Division forces and had been detained incommunicado since. It goes without doubt that these unlawful arrest and detention constituted retaliation for his work in monitoring human rights abuses and speaking up for other human rights activists as well as political prisoners in Oman.

Alkarama referred to the Working Group on Enforced or Involuntary Disappearances of the United Nations the case of Abdulrahman Ali Salem Mohammed, a Yemeni citizen who disappeared on 27 December 2013 after having been arrested at a checkpoint.

Abdulrahman, 19, usually lives in the United Arab Emirates where he has been working in cars' import/export field in Dubai. To visit his family, he used to travel frequently between Yemen and the UAE by crossing Oman.

On 9 May 2014, Alkarama submitted an urgent appeal to the Special Rapporteur on Human Rights Defenders on the case of Mr Al Balushi, Mr Al Yahyai and Mr Al Mamari who were arrested on 7 May 2014 and are currently being detained by the Internal Security Apparatus in Muscat.

The Sultanate of Oman, very quickly touched by the uprisings shaking the Arab world, allowed peaceful demonstrations to proceed for almost a month before deciding to put a stop to them through repression.