The following is an open letter to the Sultan of Oman from the Gulf Centre for Human Rights (GCHR):
Head of State and Prime Minister
His Majesty Sultan Qaboos bin Sa’id
Diwan of the Royal Court
The Palace, Muscat 113
Sultanate of Oman
Fax: +968 24 735 375
cc. 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
Chairman, National Human Rights Commission
Mr Mohammed bin Abdullah Al Riyami
P.O. Box 29, Postal Code: 103
Bareq A’ Shati
Muscat,
Sultanate of Oman
Fax: +968 24 648 80
16 February 2015
Your Majesty,
On behalf of the Gulf Centre for Human Rights (GCHR), I’m writing to request that you order prominent human rights defender Saed Jadad to be freed. He has not committed any crime, yet he remains on trial and detained, with no access to medical care.
On 8 February 2015, the third hearing of Jadad’s trial was held at the Court of First Instance in Muscat. He faces a number of baseless charges including “undermining the prestige of the state.” The Public Prosecutor talked during the hearing about what he called “the danger of the human rights organisations”, apparently with the encouragement of the judge. The 4th hearing will take place on 22 February 2015.
Jadad is being held at the Special Division of the Omani Police in Muscat, where he has reportedly been ill-treated. He has no access to proper medical care although he suffers from many diseases including heart problems. He hasn’t been allowed to communicate with his family by phone nor meet them in person.
We are concerned for his health following reports that Jadad was hospitalized after his health deteriorated in late January, following a week-long hunger strike, which began when he was arrested on 21 January 2015. On 20 January 2015, Jadad declared on his facebook page that if he is arrested he will immediately start a hunger strike until death. (See: https://www.gc4hr.org/news/view/887)
On 19 January 2015, Jadad was summoned by the Chief Public Prosecutor in Salalah, Ahmed Al-Masrori, to appear before the Court of First Instance in Muscat on 25 January 2015. The summons comes after a series of targeted harassment suffered recently by Jadad, which began on 31 October 2014, when he was informed by security authorities in Muscat International Airport that a travel ban was imposed on him last July although he was never informed about it. Reliable reports suggested that the Special Branch of Omani police in Muscat was behind the travel ban.
On International Human Rights Day, 10 December 2014, security forces raided his house in Salalah city and took him away without any judicial warrant or charge against him. Although he has some health problems, he was only freed on 21 December on bail. Jadad wrote a detailed testimony for the GCHR about the flagrant violations he suffered during this detention period. Members of the security forces threatened him, did not allow him to communicate with his family and lawyer, and tried to force him to sign fabricated investigation statements. He was ill-treated despite his illness. He has also been questioned about his links to international human rights organizations and involvement with a Gulf delegation which met with officials from the European Union in May 2012, organized by the GCHR. To read the full testimony, please see:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B-rf7VXP1mySYTlXZktHcTQ5dzA/view
Jadad is a long-standing, prominent human rights defender in Oman. He was instrumental in organizing and leading pro-reform protests in Dhofar in 2011 and has spoken publicly to crowds of up to 20,000 people. He used to be an active blogger and has signed several petitions calling for reform in Oman. Yet he has never advocated violence nor taken part in any criminal activity.
The GCHR believes strongly that he is targeted solely due to his legitimate and peaceful human rights activities, and that his detention has no basis under international law.
We therefore urge you to:
1. Immediately release Saed Jadad and drop all the charges directed against him;
2. Guarantee in all circumstances the ability of human rights defenders and journalists in Oman to carry out their legitimate human rights activities without fear of reprisal, and free of restrictions including judicial harassment.
Your sincerely,
Kristina Stockwood
Chairperson
Gulf Centre for Human Rights
