The referral letter alleged that Dr. Qatan had committed “a misdemeanor to use the Internet to publish information that would harm the public order, according to the text of Article 19 of the Omani Cyber Crime Law.”

The sheikhs of the Governorate of Dhofar and those affected by the decision to transfer the authority of the Dhofar Plain have addressed the Sultan of Oman in a letter on the matter and they are awaiting his response

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The Gulf Centre for Human Rights (GCHR) and the Omani Association for Human Rights (OAHR) call on the authorities in Oman to drop all charges against Dr. Ahmed Issa Qattan and Salem Ali Al-Maashani, and to immediately end the policy of silencing and restricting other opinions and targeting human rights defenders, including Internet activists. The authorities in Oman must respect public freedoms, including freedom of expression and opinion, on and off the Internet.

Reliable local sources stated that the two activists are being held by the Special Division of the Salalah Police Command, which summoned and arrested them as soon as they presented themselves. The Special Division, which represents the executive arm of the ISS, executes, on its behalf, arrest and detention orders for activists. These same sources confirmed that the Special Division also summoned a number of Twitter activists in the Dhofar Governorate who were forced to sign pledges not to tweet on the issue of transferring authority over the Dhofar Plain.

The poet Al-Maasani’s Twitter page features the following phrase, “A person does not care about politics, except when he discovers that part of his unhappiness is decided by the government.” On 25 February 2021, he published a tweet calling for freedom for environmental activist Dr. Ahmed Issa Qatan, who has been detained since 23 February 2021, and he also emphasised the issue of transferring authority over the Dhofar Plain, noting, “The importance of attracting all components of society and involving them in this issue to draw up a road map in line with the interest of the homeland and the citizen.” In another tweet he posted on 23 February 2021, he called on the authorities to respect freedom of opinion and expression, as stipulated in Articles 18, 29 and 31 of the Basic Law of the State.
Internet activist Bait Saeed manages a well-known YouTube channel under the name “Amr Al-Hkli”, on which he publishes recordings that include his poems and video clips about beaches and various places in the Dhofar Governorate, as part of his efforts to promote tourism and attract tourists to visit these places. On 13 February 2021, he posted the following tweet on his Twitter account, which he uses to refuse to transfer ownership of in the Dhofar plan as well as to promote tourism, “Wonderful paradoxes! Some citizens hold camel festivals that support and encourage them, and at the same time, and on the other side, other citizens are banned from festivals and forced to leave their pastures as palaces and displaced from their homes. Are we all citizens of the same degree in this country?”

In a related case, the Public Prosecution’s office in the city of Salalah issued a letter bearing the number 10/2178/2021, which refers Dr. Ahmed Issa Qatan to the Court of First Instance in Salalah, which is now scheduled to hold its first session to consider his case on 03 March 2021. The referral letter alleges that Dr Qatan “Used the Internet to publish what would harm the public order by inflaming public opinion, undermining the integrity of the minister and those working with him, accusing them of corruption and favoritism while infringing on their personalities … through the social networking application Twitter.” The referral letter alleged that he had committed “a misdemeanor to use the Internet to publish information that would harm the public order, according to the text of Article 19 of the Omani Cyber Crime Law.

The Public Prosecution requested the court to confiscate the device used for the tweets in accordance with the provisions of Article 32/A, with the Twitter account used being permanently closed in accordance with the provisions of Article 32/B of the same law.

Article 19 of Oman’s Cyber Crime Law states: “Shall be punished by imprisonment for a period no less than a month and not exceeding three years and a fine of not less than one thousand Omani Rials and not exceeding three thousand Omani Rials, or one of those two penalties, whoever uses the information network or information technology means in the production, publication, distribution, purchase or Possession of anything that would prejudice religious values ​​or public order.”

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GCHR and OAHR condemn in the strongest terms the arrest campaign led by the ISS against all environmental defenders in the Dhofar Governorate. The ISS should immediately release the three activists, Dr. Ahmed Issa Qatan, poet Salem Ali Al-Maashani and Internet activist Amer Muslim Bait Saeed (Amr Al-Hkli), and immediately end the policy of silencing other opinions and systematically targeting human rights defenders, including Internet activists.

The authorities are taking advantage of the current exceptional situation imposed by the Coronavirus (Covid-19) pandemic to pass their plans to transfer authority of the Dhofar Plain at a time when citizens are preoccupied with matters of their health and self-preservation. The authorities in Oman must respect public freedoms, including freedom of expression and opinion, on and off the Internet.

He is being held by the police in the Detention Prison in Salalah, which is controlled by the Directorate of Criminal Inquiries and Investigation of the Dhofar Governorate Police Command.
Reports confirmed that Dr. Qatan rejected the charge, which violates his right to freedom of expression, and denounced being interrogated without having access to a lawyer.

The Internal Security Service (ISS) arrested Dr. Qatan on 23 February 2021, after he was summoned to appear before the Special Division of the Salalah Police Command, where he was arrested upon presenting himself. The Special Division represents the executive arm of the ISS, and carries out arrest and detention orders for activists on its behalf.

Dr. Qatan, a resident of Dhofar Governorate and a specialist in desalination of sea water, opposes a decision issued by the Minister of State and Governor of Dhofar to prevent camels from grazing in parts of the Dhofar Plain, as part of his efforts to preserve traditional life and not prejudice its current formation or change the lifestyle that has existed for hundreds of years. Thus, he rejects plans to transfer authority over the Dhofar Plain to the Ministry of Housing and Urban Planning, which will allow the construction of housing complexes in these green spaces.

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Once again, GCHR and OAHR condemn the arrest of Dr. Ahmed Issa Qatan, and protest against the two-week extension of his detention before his trial, which the two NGOs consider to be a violation of his basic rights to freely express his views and defend the environment in his governorate. The ISS should end the policy of silencing voices and opinions, and targeting human rights defenders, including Internet activists, which it has systematically followed in recent years.

The authorities in Oman must respect public freedoms, including freedom of expression and opinion, on and off the Internet.

On 23 February 2021, Dr. Qatan was summoned to appear before the Special Division of the Salalah Police Command, where he was arrested upon arrival. The Special Division represents the executive arm of the ISS, carrying out arrest and detention orders for activists on its behalf.
Dr. Qatan, a resident of Dhofar Governorate and a specialist in desalination of sea water, opposes an official decision to prevent the grazing of camels in parts of the Dhofar Plain, within his efforts to preserve normal life and maintain the lifestyle in the area that has existed for hundreds of years. He also rejects plans by the authorities to build residential complexes in these green spaces.

His Twitter account, which he uses to spread his views on protecting the environment, is topped by the following pinned tweet, which he posted on 13 July 2019: “Sustainable development is based on maximising national income while minimising harm to the environment and society … and in the Dhofar Governorate, which is characterised by autumn rains and a moderate climate, proper planning requires preserving the green areas and their traditional heritage and making them a regional centre for natural recreation.”

On 21 February 2021, Dr. Qatan mentioned in another tweet: “We have yet to wait for the advance of autumn. If the decision remains, we must gather the herds of camels in front of the globe and we demand that His Majesty the Sultan get rid of the camels or get rid of the inherited administration in the governor’s office which remained preoccupied by the displacement of the rural population and the acquisition of the Dhofar Plain.”

He also published, using the hashtag: #TransOwnershipOfDhofarPlain10, the following tweet on the same day, “Two options are being tried to nullify the transfer of the Dhofar Plain to housing planning… The option of complaining to the closed government doors and repeating the attempts of the failed sheikhs … The other alternative is trying to uproot the thorny roots by heading to public opinion to reveal the link between the decision and suspicions of corruption and private interests.”

The Minister of State and Governor of Dhofar, Mohammed Bin Sultan Bin Hamoud Al-Busaidi, issued Ministerial Decree No. (14/2021) which included several decisions, among them “banning camel grazing in the Sahel region extending from Nashib to Raysut.” An officer in the Ministry said in a press statement that this decision comes, “within the framework of transferring the affiliation of the Sahel in the Dhofar Governorate to the Ministry of Housing and Urban Planning.”

GCHR and the OAHR condemn the arrest of Dr. Ahmed Issa Qatan, and consider it a violation of his basic rights to freely express his views and defend the environment and its components in his governorate. The Internal Security Agency must stop the policy of silencing voices and opinions, and targeting human rights defenders, including internet activists, which it has systematically followed in recent years.

The authorities in Oman must respect public freedoms, including freedom of expression and opinion, on and off the Internet.