On 31 March 2021, the Court of First Instance in Salalah sentenced poet and Internet activist Salem Ali Al-Maashani to one month suspended imprisonment and a fine of 1000 Omani Riyals (approx. USD$2700). The Court sentenced environmental activist Dr. Ahmed Issa Qatan to six months’ imprisonment and a fine of 1000 Omani riyals, with a payment of 500 Omani Riyals to appeal the verdict. The Court sentenced online activist Salem Tabuk to two months in prison and a fine of 1000 Omani riyals, with a payment of 500 Omani Riyals to appeal the verdict.

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. On 28 February 2021, the security authorities in Dhofar Governorate arrested poet and Internet activist Al-Maashani. They were later released on bail.

The referral order by the Public Prosecution addressed to the court alleged that they had committed “a misdemeanor to use the Internet to publish information that would harm the public order,” under Article 19 of the Omani Cyber Crime Law.

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This trial comes a result of the Internal Security Service (ISS) campaign against activists who are seeking to preserve the traditional way of life in the Dhofar Plain that has existed for hundreds of years. Therefore, they reject 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.

In another case, on 04 April 2021, online activist Muslim Al-Badi, who works as a nurse at Sohar Hospital, surrendered himself to the competent authorities to complete the remainder of his sentence, which is one year and three months, out of the original two-year prison sentence issued against him, and upheld by the Appeal Court in Sohar on 31 March 2021. Al-Badi comes from Saham, one of the states of the North Al-Batinah Governorate. He spent a period of four months in Al-Masarah Psychiatric Hospital and obtained a medical report confirming that he suffers from severe mental disorders. He was convicted of insulting the Sultan, during the reign of the former Sultan Qaboos, in connection with his peaceful activities on social media networks.

On 23 June 2020, Al-Badi wrote on his Facebook page “Where have you been for 49 years?” above a picture of a statement made by the Grand Mufti of the state, Sheikh Ahmed Al-Khalili, in which he said, “Cut off the house of financial corruption by arresting those manipulating public funds.”

Earlier, on 26 March 2021, Omani citizen Sultan Ambo Saeedi published two videos of himself on his Instagram account in which he alleged he was severely tortured in 2017. He claimed that he spent 30 days in detention at the ISS for interrogation, during which his nails were pulled out, parts of his body were subjected to electric shocks, and he was sprayed with a quantity of tear gas so large that he almost suffocated completely. He also indicated that he had filed a complaint and followed up on it since 2017, to no avail. Saeedi was forced to leave the country after successive summonses were carried out by the Special Division of the Omani Police Headquarters, which is the executive arm of the ISS.

The Gulf Centre for Human Rights (GCHR) and the Omani Association for Human Rights (OAHR) express their condemnation and denunciation of the arbitrary sentences issued against Internet activists Dr. Ahmed Issa Qatan, Salem Ali Al-Maashani, Salem Tabuk and Muslim Al-Badi. We also deplore the ISS’s continued restrictions on freedom of expression on and off the Internet. We strongly appeal to the Omani government to put an immediate end to the systematic targeting of bloggers and Internet activists by the ISS and to investigate and put an end to torture in Omani prisons.

GCHR and OAHR urge the authorities in Oman to:
Immediately and unconditionally release Internet activists Dr. Ahmed Issa Qatan, Salem Ali Al-Maashani, Salem Tabuk and Muslim Al-Badi;
Protect freedom of the press in the country as well as freedom of expression on the Internet; and
Ensure, in all circumstances, the ability of human rights defenders and journalists in Oman to carry out their legitimate work in the field of human rights without fear of reprisals and without any restrictions, including judicial harassment.


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.

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.