Torture by Police, Forced Disappearance & Other Ill Treatment In the early years of the 21st Century, 2000 to
2025 gvnet.com/torture/Oman.htm
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CAUTION: The following links
have been culled from the web to illuminate the situation in Oman. Some of these links may lead to websites
that present allegations that are unsubstantiated or even false. No
attempt has been made to validate their authenticity or to verify their content. HOW TO USE THIS WEBPAGE Students If you are looking
for material to use in a term-paper, you are advised to scan the postings on
this page and others to see which aspects of Torture by Authorities are of
particular interest to you. You might
be interested in exploring the moral justification for inflicting pain or
inhumane or degrading treatment or punishment in order to obtain critical
information that may save countless lives, or to elicit a confession for a
criminal act, or to punish someone to teach him a lesson outside of the
courtroom. Perhaps your paper might
focus on some of the methods of torture, like fear, extreme temperatures,
starvation, thirst, sleep deprivation, suffocation, or immersion in freezing
water. On the other hand, you might
choose to write about the people acting in an official capacity who
perpetrate such cruelty. There is a
lot to the subject of Torture by Authorities.
Scan other countries as well as this one. Draw comparisons between activity in
adjacent countries and/or regions.
Meanwhile, check out some of the Term-Paper resources
that are available on-line. ***
ARCHIVES *** 2020 Country
Reports on Human Rights Practices: Oman U.S. Dept of State Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and
Labor, 30 March 2021 www.state.gov/reports/2020-country-reports-on-human-rights-practices/oman/
[accessed 2 August
2021] TORTURE AND OTHER
CRUEL, INHUMAN, OR DEGRADING TREATMENT OR PUNISHMENT In May 2019 Amnesty
International reported allegations that authorities physically abused
defendants from the al-Shehhi tribe who criticized the government’s policies
in the Musandam governorate in order to extract
confessions, which resulted in life sentences for the six defendants. PRISON AND DETENTION
CENTER CONDITIONS While prison and
detention center conditions generally met international standards, there were
some allegations of abuse and life-threatening conditions. ARREST PROCEDURES
AND TREATMENT OF DETAINEES The Internal
Security Service arrested and detained Ghazi al-Awlaki,
a political activist and Omani citizen, for his peaceful activities on social
media, human rights observers reported in August. In September observers said
that authorities had released al-Awlaki without
charge after 50 days in detention. Freedom House Country
Report 2020 Edition freedomhouse.org/country/oman/freedom-world/2020 [accessed 15 May
2020] F3. IS THERE PROTECTION FROM THE ILLEGITIMATE USE
OF PHYSICAL FORCE AND FREEDOM FROM WAR AND INSURGENCIES? Prisons are not
accessible in practice to independent monitors, but former detainees have
reported beatings and other abuse. Online activist Hassan al-Basham, who had
been sentenced to three years in prison in 2016 for allegedly using the
internet in ways that could be “prejudicial to religious values,” died in
custody in 2018 after reportedly being denied medical care. Oman: Five people
held incommunicado Amnesty International
AI, 21 June 2018 -- Index number: MDE 20/8642/2018 www.amnesty.org/en/documents/mde20/8642/2018/en/ [accessed 10 January
2019] www.amnesty.org/download/Documents/MDE2086422018ENGLISH.pdf [accessed 10 January
2019] Since 6 April,
Omani authorities have launched a series of arbitrary detentions of individuals
from Musandam province. The security forces are
currently holding five persons incommunicado and without charges. They are
believed to be in the custody of the Internal Security Service in the capital
Muscat. Torture in Oman Gulf Center for
Human Rightsm, 29 Jan 2014 [accessed 5 Feb
2014] “I thought they
were killing Said, and that I was next. I could hear beating and shouting. I
didn’t want to die afraid; I wanted to be strong, honourable.
I prayed and thought of my parents. I will never forget the sound of the
sticks hitting him.” Basimah Al-Rajhi,
human rights lawyer, speaking in October 2013. INTRODUCTION - Torture has
become the state’s knee jerk response to political expression. This report
documents the arsenal of torture methods in use in Oman including mock
execution, beating, hooding, solitary confinement, subjection to extremes of
temperature and to constant noise, abuse and humiliation. These practices are
allowed to flourish within a culture of arbitrary arrest and detention in
secret institutions. TORTURE AND
ILL-TREATMENT “At the police
station I was asked to wait in a room as a senior officer wanted to talk to
me. I waited but then six men came into the room, all hooded and carrying
guns. They cuffed my hands roughly behind my back, shouting at me and took my
glasses, my hat. They placed a long knee length black hood over me….” Khalfan Al-Badwawi, social activist
speaking in October 2013. TORTURE All of the male
detainees interviewed for the purpose of this report described a similar
range of abuses carried out by public officials against them while they were
in detention. These include hooding, subjection to loud music played 24 hours
a day, sleep deprivation, and exposure to extremes of temperature. Three
detainees told GCHR of incidents of kidnapping by security services. One
described severe beatings and mock execution. Hooding is
recognized as a form of torture and or cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment
by international and regional human rights bodies. The United Nations
Committee Against Torture has stated that hooding in certain circumstances
constitutes torture, in particular when used in conjunction with other coercive
techniques such as subjection to loud music and extreme temperatures, which
occurred in these cases.[20] The European Committee for the Prevention of
Torture and Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment and the
Inter-American Court of Human Rights have also condemned the practice.[21] ILL TREATMENT Detained human
rights defenders were also subject to other forms of ill treatment including
prolonged solitary confinement, which can in certain circumstances amount to
torture, prolonged interrogation, prolonged handcuffing, verbal abuse and
threats. Several said that
they were coerced into signing confessions or into making false statements.
One said that his children’s future was threatened unless he ceased his
political activities Search … AMNESTY
INTERNATIONAL For more
articles:: Search Amnesty
International’s website www.amnesty.org/en/search/?q=oman+torture&ref=&year=&lang=en&adv=1&sort=relevance [accessed 10 January 2019] Scroll
Down ***
EARLIER EDITIONS OF SOME OF THE ABOVE *** Human Rights
Reports » 2005 Country Reports on Human Rights Practices www.state.gov/g/drl/rls/hrrpt/2005/61696.htm [accessed 10
February 2013] 2009-2017.state.gov/j/drl/rls/hrrpt/2005/61696.htm [accessed 4 July
2019] TORTURE
AND OTHER CRUEL, INHUMAN, OR DEGRADING TREATMENT OR PUNISHMENT – The law
prohibits such practices, and the government generally respected these
provisions in practice; however, there were accusations of police employing
unnecessary force to disband protestors and of investigative judges
threatening physical harm to uncooperative detainees. The government
dismissed or demoted police found guilty of using excessive force. Freedom House
Country Rating - Political Rights: 6 Civil Liberties: 5 Status: Not Free 2009 Edition www.freedomhouse.org/report/freedom-world/2009/oman [accessed 10
February 2013] LONG
URL ç 2009 Country Reports begin on Page 21 [accessed 13 May
2020] The judiciary is
not independent. It remains subordinate to the sultan and the Ministry of
Justice. Sharia (Islamic law) is the source of all legislation, and Sharia Court
Departments within the civil court system are responsible for family-law
matters such as divorce and inheritance. In less populated areas, tribal laws
and customs are frequently used to adjudicate disputes. Many of the civil
liberties guarantees expressed in the basic law have not been implemented. According to the
law, arbitrary arrest and detention are prohibited. In practice, the police
are not required to obtain an arrest warrant in advance. Government
authorities must obtain court orders to hold suspects in pretrial detention,
but the police and security services do not regularly follow these
procedures. Prisons are not accessible to independent monitors, and former
prisoners report overcrowding. The penal code contains broad and vague
provisions for offenses against national security. These charges are
prosecuted before the State Security Court, which usually holds proceedings
that are closed to the public. All
material used herein reproduced under the fair use exception of 17 USC § 107
for noncommercial, nonprofit, and educational use. PLEASE RESPECT COPYRIGHTS OF COMPONENT
ARTICLES. Cite this
webpage as: Patt, Prof. Martin, "Torture by Police, Forced Disappearance
& Other Ill Treatment in the early years of the 21st Century- Oman",
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