Joint letter to the Sultan of Oman on the right of press freedom and the targeting of journalists and human rights defenders
Your Majesty Sultan Qaboos bin Said,
We, the undersigned organisationswrite to you regarding the systematic targeting of journalists, human rightsdefenders and online activists by the Internal Security Service (ISS) in Oman.
We believe that these recent arrestsand prosecutions are part of an ongoing attempt to silence and curtail theright to press freedom as well as freedom of expression.
Since October 10, 2016, the three Azamn journalists sentenced to years inprison by the Court of First Instance in Muscat are free, pending the outcomeof the appeal which is expected on November 7.
IbrahimAl-Maamari,the editor-in-chief of the Omani independent newspaper Azamn, and managing editor YoussefAl-Haj were freed after the appeal court, at their lawyers’ request,reduced the amount of bail to 2,000 rials (4,000 euros) from the 50,000 rials (110,000 euros) set by thecourt that convicted them. The third defendant in this case, Azamn local news editor Zaher Al-Abri, was already releasedconditionally on August 22.
On September 26, 2016, the Court of First Instance hadimposed harsh jail sentences on these three journalists and ordered thepermanent closure of the Azamnnewspaper.
The arrests of the journalists andthe closure of the newspaper came after a report, published in July 2016, whichaccused unnamed officials of influencing the Chief Magistrate of the SupremeCourt, to intervene in judicial proceedings. The Vice-President of theSupreme Court thanked the newspaper for the report and for dissemination of"facts without a slur on anybody".
More precisely, Ibrahim Al-Maamariand Yousef Al-Haj were convicted of four common charges – “disturbing publicorder, misuse of the Internet, publishing details of a civil case, andundermining the prestige of the state.” They were sentenced to three years’imprisonment, in addition to a fine of 3,000 rials and a ban on working as ajournalist for a period of one year. Two additional charges were broughtagainst Yousef Al-Haj: “publishing about a case for which a decree had beenissued to ban news about it, and slander.”
Journalist Zaher Al-Abri was sentencedto one-year imprisonment and fined 1,000 rials after being found guilty ofusing “an information network [the Internet] for the dissemination of materialthat might be prejudicial to public order.”
These harsh sentences are a clearattempt to hinder the work of journalists and to curtail the right to freedomof expression and opinion in Oman. Theimprisonment of journalists whose only crime was to exercise their professionin a legitimate manner and the censorship of this story do not bode well forthe future of journalism and civil liberties in the Sultanate, which is ranked125th out of 180 countries in the 2016 World Press Freedom Index compiled byReporters Without Borders.
In relation with the Azamn case, many online activistsshowing support with the journalists were targeted by the authorities. Saqr Al-Balushi, and writer Hamood Al-Shukaily, arrested bothrespectively on October 5 and August 14, remain in detention. Mohammed Al-Harthi, however, who wasarrested on August 18 in relation with posts he made on Twitter in which heexpressed his views on corruption and solidarity with the Azamn newspaper, was released the following day.
The undersigned organisationsexpress serious concern at the ISS’ systematic targeting of journalists, writers,human rights defenders including online activists, and view it as a deplorableand urgent threat to media freedom and freedom of expression in Oman.
We call onyou to use your influence in Oman to:
1. Protect freedom of the media and freedom of speech,especially online;
2. Revoke the closure order of Azamn newspaper by theMinistry of Information;
3. Revoke the sentences issued against journalists IbrahimAl-Maamari, Yousef Al-Haj and Zaher Al-Abri;
4. Immediately and unconditionally release online activistsMohammed Al-Harthi and Saqr Al-Balushi;
5. Ensure that the ISS stops its attacks on media freedom andfreedom of expression and its targeting of journalists, online activists and otherhuman rights defenders;
6. To guarantee in all circumstances that all human rightsdefenders including journalists, writers and online activists in Oman are ableto carry out their legitimate human rights activities without fear of reprisalsand free of all restrictions including judicial harassment.
Signed:
1. Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ)
2. Front Line Defenders (FLD)
3. Gulf Centre for Human Rights (GCHR)
4. Index on Censorship
5. International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH), within theframework of the Observatory for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders
6. International Federation of Journalism (IFJ)
7. PEN International
8. Reporters Without Borders (RSF)
9. SKeyes Center for Media and Cultural Freedom
10. World OrganisationAgainst Torture (OMCT), within the framework of the of the Observatory for theProtection of Human Rights Defenders
Please find the Arabic version of the letter at the following link: http://ar.rsf.org/2016/10/18/newsjoint-letter-sultan-oman-right-press-freedom-and-targeting-journalists-and-human-rights-defenders/.