Cairo on June 23, 2012

ANHRI denounced Oman’s authorities continuing campaign against activists and bloggers by continuing the imprisonment of many activists who were detained in the past two weeks and went on hunger strike, in addition to the arrest of other activists yesterday.

“Releasing some of the activists , doesn’t help in enhancing the authority’s reputation as many young people are still languishing behind bars, abused in their imprisonment because of their opposition to the government,” said ANHRI that expressed concern about the safety of “Ismail al-Meqbali” the detained activist since the beginning of the month as no more news about him. Also the safety of the well known activist “Saed al-Hashemi” whose health deteriorated seriously after his hunger strike.

On Friday 22nd of June 2012, the authorities arrested the activist “Bassam Abu-qaseida” in Muscat and was kept in private custody. They also arrested the activist “Amina el-sa’di” . ANHRI couldn’t find out what are the reasons and charges against them but they are more likely the same reasons for arresting dozens of activists in the past two weeks after the threatening statement of the Omani prosecution against activists and opinion makers, especially the youth who are active on the social networking sites ; Facebook and Twitter.

 Some activists mentioned on Twitter that the reason for Amina el-sa’di’s arrest is the authorities’ attempt to force her to confess the participation in a non-peaceful, non-licensed demonstrations, ANHRI is not quite sure yet of this information.

 In the same context, the Omani authorities released a number of activists who were arrested on June 11.

 In a serious violation of the right of peaceful assembly, a number of those released, confirmed that the authorities forced them to sign on statements of not participating again in any demonstrations or peaceful protests in the country.

 Still a number of other activists are languishing behind bars in Samail prison. One of them is Saed el-Hashemi who is on a hunger strike for the fourteenth day in a row. Activists said that the authorities moved el-hashemi into a solitary confinement where he is spending his third day now. While both activists “Basma el-kyumi” and “Basma el-rajhi” stopped their hunger strike few days ago.

 Omani authorities did not release the activist “Ismail al-meqbali” who was among the first group arrested in this wave of arrests, as his detention was renewed on 4/6/2012 for seven days. And according to the testimonies of some activists , there are no reasons for the continued detention of el-meqbali” and no news whatsoever about him.

 Releasing some activists after forcing them to sign pledges of not participating anymore in any peaceful demonstrations is a clear violation of freedom of opinion and peaceful assembly provided in all treaties and conventions.” said ANHRI that demanded the Omani authorities to immediately release all prisoners of conscience in the country and ensure their safety and to stop the pursue and the crack down on activists and opinion makers.

ANHRI also expressed concern regarding the safety and fate of “saed el-hashemi” whose health deteriorated seriously after the ongoing hunger strike for 14 days and “Ismail el-meqbali” whose news no one know about although the expiration of the extension of his detention.

ANHRI calls all main actors in the field of human rights to highlight the recent violations in Oman and use pressure as a method to ensure the safety of the detained activists to release them quickly.

“The Omani regime must know that repression won’t work and free speech won’t be silenced and that any official involved in abusing any of the detainees, will be legally prosecuted” said ANHRI.

For more information, see ANHRI recent press releases:

 Oman: Dozens of arrests..Sultan Qaboos must take action!

Oman: ANHRI Calls for an Immediate Release of Ismail Al-Meqbali 

Oman: Three activists detained in a labor strike; prisoners of conscience in solitary confinement