Rights groups write to Oman’s sultan as journalists targeted

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates – Rights groups have written a letter to Oman’s sultan over the recent targeting of journalists and activists by the country’s Internal Security Service.

The letter, sent on Tuesday from 10 groups, calls the detentions and alleged harassment “part of an ongoing attempt to silence and curtail the right to press freedom, as well as freedom of expression.”

The letter comes after journalists from the Arabic newspaper Azamn were convicted over their story alleging corruption in Oman’s courts. It asks Sultan Qaboos bin Said to reopen the newspaper, revoke the sentences against the journalists, release detained activists and protect their rights.

Omani officials did not respond to a request for comment about the letter.

Oman, on the eastern edge of the Arabian Peninsula, has been ruled by Sultan Qaboos since 1970.

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