Oman court postpones verdict against writer

The Muscat Appeal Court postponed on Wednesday the issuance of its final verdict against Omani writer, Hamoud Al Shukaili to January 18.

Based on the charges read in the court, Al Shukaili was convicted of disturbing public order over a Facebook post in 2016.

In September, the Muscat Primary Court sentenced Al Shukaili to a three year jail-term, fined him 1,000 rials (Dh9,540) and ruled that appealing the verdict would cost him 5,000 rials.

The writer, who is also an Arabic teacher at a government school in Muscat, was arrested on August 15.

On August 22, National Human Rights Commission said he was arrested because of his writings on Facebook

“One Cry Is Not Enough” is one of his famous novels.

On December, 2016, The Muscat Primary court sentenced two Omani journalists to prison sentences.

Ebrahim Al Mamari, editor-in-chief of Al Zaman newspaper, was handed a six-month sentence while Yousuf Al Haj, an editor at the same publication, received a one-year sentence.

Zaher Al Abri, a reporter at the same paper, was acquitted.

In August, the Omani government ordered Al Zaman to close its offices after it published two reports accusing top officials in the government of pressuring the judiciary to change a ruling in an inheritance case.

The government argued, in a statement run by the state-run news agency ONA, that the newspaper violated freedom of expression by running the reports.

The Muscat Appeal Court however recently reversed the decision to close down Al Zaman newspaper

source : gulfnews