Muscat: Activists say that a doctor with Oman’s Ministry of Health has been detained since Sunday (April 14).
Habiba Al Hinai, an independent human rights activist in Oman, told Gulf News that Dr Saleh Al Azry had been summoned by security agencies on Sunday and has not been heard from since.
“Dr Al Azry was never held or questioned in the past,” another activist said, on condition of anonymity.
The activist believes the doctor’s social media activity could be the reason he was summoned by authorities.
Dr Al Azry’s family was unavailable for comment. Last month, Sultan Qaboos Bin Saeed pardoned and ordered the immediate release of all activists imprisoned for insulting him, violating the country’s cyber laws and those held for holding illegal gatherings.
In a crackdown that started in May 2012, authorities have arrested about 49 people and tried them in the courts of law for insulting the Sultan, violating cyber laws and holding for illegal gathering at a public place. Some faced multiple charges.
Earlier, eleven of them who had been jailed to six months in prison for holding illegal gatherings won an appeal in the Supreme Court for a retrial. However, this was before the amnesty.
Of those charged with violating cyber laws, some had been released on bail while others had been serving prison terms handed down by the Primary Court and later upheld by the Appeals Court.
