OMAN Immediately Release Human Rights Defender Mr Said Jadad

Said Jadad has not been given access to a lawyer nor charged with any criminal offence.

(YORK, UK) - On 4 July 2013, human rights defender and blogger Mr Said Jadad was arrested from his farmland residence in the Dhofar region by Police and Anti-Riot forces, and taken to the police station of Salala province, where he is currently detained.

Said Jadad is a prominent blogger and human rights defender in Oman. His work includes documenting human rights violations as well as writing critical blog posts about current human rights violations in Oman.

On the morning of 4 July 2013, approximately 15 officers from the Police and Anti-Riot division raided the farm where Said Jadad lives on 4 July 2013, and arbitrarily arrested the human rights defender. No arrest warrant was produced at the time of the arrest. Said Jadad has not been given access to a lawyer nor charged with any criminal offence. Said Jadad has previously faced interrogation sessions with the police, and on each occasion he was asked to sign a pledge to cease working in the field of human rights, which he rejected.

During previous detentions, the human rights defender was denied medical attention to serious health issues, including heart and back problems, and high blood pressure. The unsanitary conditions of the prison cells where he was held exasperated his health problems.

Salem-News.com Human Rights Ambassador William Nicholas Gomes, believes Said Jadad’s detention to be solely motivated by his human rights work and views this act as part of an ongoing crackdown on human rights defenders in Oman, including continued acts of judicial harassment.

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Qaboos bin Said al-Said
Sultan of Oman; Prime Minister; Commander-in-Chief of the Omani Armed Forces
Office of the Sultan
Royal Palace
PO Box 875
Muscat 113
Oman

Your Majesty,

I am William Nicholas Gomes, Human Rights Ambassador for Salem-News.com.

On 4 July 2013, human rights defender and blogger Mr Said Jadad was arrested from his farmland residence in the Dhofar region by Police and Anti-Riot forces, and taken to the police station of Salala province, where he is currently detained. Said Jadad is a prominent blogger and human rights defender in Oman who works mainly in the Dhofar region. His work includes documenting human rights violations as well as writing critical blog posts about current human rights violations in Oman.

On the morning of 4 July 2013, approximately 15 officers from the Police and Anti-Riot division raided the farm where Said Jadad lives with his family, and arbitrarily arrested the human rights defender. No arrest warrant was produced at the time of the arrest. Said Jadad has not been given access to a lawyer nor charged with any criminal offence.

Said Jadad has previously faced interrogation sessions with the police, and on each occasion he was asked to sign a pledge to cease working in the field of human rights, which he rejected. In January 2013, Said Jadad was arbitrarily arrested after being requested to present himself to the police, and was later released without any charges. In February 2011, the human rights defender was summoned by the authorities in Dhofar, who proceeded to threaten him regarding his contact with international non-governmental organisations. Said Jadad has also been officially banned from publishing in the Omani media, including in newspapers which he used to contribute to, such as Al Zaman and Ru’aya.

I would like to express my serious concern at the arbitrary detention of Said Jadad and at his physical and psychological integrity, in particular given his reported medical condition. I believe Said Jadad’s detention to be solely motivated by his human rights work and views this act as part of an ongoing crackdown on human rights defenders in Oman, including continued acts of judicial harassment.

I urges the authorities in Oman to:

1. Immediately and unconditionally release Said Jadad as it is believed he is being arbitrarily detained with no formal charges in relation to his work in defence of human rights;

2. Ensure that his treatment while in detention adheres to international human rights standards and the international obligations of Oman;

3. Allow Said Jadad immediate and unfettered access to his family and lawyer, and to appropriate medical treatment if needed;

4. Guarantee in all circumstances that human rights defenders in Oman are able to carry out their legitimate human rights activities without fear of reprisals and free of all restrictions including judicial harassment.

Yours Sincerely,
William Nicholas Gomes
Human Rights Ambassador for Salem-News.com
www.williamnicholasgomes.com

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Salem-News.com Human Rights Ambassador William Nicholas Gomes is a Bangladeshi journalist, human rights activist and author was born on 25 December, 1985 in Dhaka. As an investigative journalist he wrote widely for leading European and Asian media outlets.

He is also active in advocating for free and independent media and journalists’ rights, and is part of the free media movement, Global Independent Media Center – an activist media network for the creation of radical, accurate, and passionate telling of the truth. He worked for Italian news agency Asianews.it from year 2009 to 2011, on that time he was accredited as a free lance journalist by the press information department of Bangladesh. During this time he has reported a notable numbers of reports for the news agency which were translated into Chinese and Italian and quoted by notable number of new outlets all over the world.He, ideologically, identifies himself deeply attached with anarchism. His political views are often characterized as “leftist” or “left-wing,” and he has described himself as an individualist anarchist.