On International Human Rights Day, 10 December 2014, security forces raided the house of human rights defender Saed Jadad in Salalah city and took him away without any judicial warrant or charge against him. It is believed that he is being detained at the Special Division of the Omani Police in Salahah, but he has been held incommunicado with no access to his family or lawyer. He also has health issues.

Saed 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.

On the morning of 31 October 2014, while Saed Jadad was on his way to get a flight to Istanbul via Doha, a plain clothes security personnel told him that a travel ban had been imposed on him since last July although he was never informed about it. When asked about the reason he was told it was by order of the Public Prosecutor. Reliable reports suggested that the Special Branch of Omani police in Muscat was behind the travel ban.

The Gulf Centre for Human Rights (GCHR) is very concerned for the physical and psychological security of Saed Jadad, especially given his medical needs. GCHR is further concerned that his arbitrary arrest and detention are solely related to his legitimate exercise of the right of freedom of expression and his quest for people’s rights to be respected in his country.

The GCHR urges the authorities in Oman to: 

1. Ensure the release of  human rights defender Saed Jadad immediately and unconditionally;
2. Grant Saed Jadad immediate and unfettered access to his family and lawyer;
3. Guarantee the physical and psychological integrity and security of Saed Jadad;
4. Guarantee in all circumstances that all human rights defenders in Oman are able to carry out their legitimate human rights activities without fear of reprisals and free from all restrictions including judicial harassment. 

The GCHR respectfully reminds the Omani authorities that the United Nations Declaration on the Right and Responsibility of Individuals, Groups and Organs of Society to Promote and Protect Universally Recognized Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms, adopted by consensus by the UN General Assembly on 9 December 1998, recognises the legitimacy of the activities of human rights defenders, their right to freedom of association and to carry out their activities without fear of reprisals. We would particularly draw attention to Article 6 (c): “Everyone has the right, individually and in association with others: (c) To study, discuss, form and hold opinions on the observance, both in law and in practice, of all human rights and fundamental freedoms and, through these and other appropriate means, to draw public attention to those matters;” and to Article 12.2, which provides that “the State shall take all necessary measures to ensure the protection by the competent authorities of everyone, individually and in association with others, against any violence, threats, retaliation, de facto or de jure adverse discrimination, pressure or any other arbitrary action as a consequence of his or her legitimate exercise of the rights referred to in the present Declaration.”