When Sultan Qaboos of Oman left for Germany on July 10 for vacation as well as routine medical examinations, little did he — and Omanis in general — anticipate the publication of a bombastic report that, inter-alia, pretended to know the monarch’s health condition and his succession plans. As this was not the first time such a report surfaced about a ruler on the Arabian Peninsula, it was fair to ask two simple questions: who stands to gain from such stories and, when will Arab journalists adopt higher standards of reportage?
On Sunday, the Lebanese pro-Amal Party, and very pro-Iran Al-Jadeed Television station carried a story that opened with laudatory remarks on the Omani statesman. It correctly pointed out that the Sultan is a widely respected leader by members of the international community, and claimed that Qaboos suffered from cancer with a hopeless prognosis.
The unsigned essay relied on anonymous sources to affirm that after a seven-month-long treatment in the Sultanate that proved unsatisfactory, he was “moved” to Munich, and that his alleged colon cancer had metastasised throughout his body. This part of the fantastic reportage concluded that the ruler — who allegedly seldom sought medical advice, never took any medication, rarely saw physicians, and at no time visited hospitals — was now at God’s mercy. Naturally, none of this was substantiated with an iota of fact, but that is an Al-Jadeed speciality.
The second part of the purposefully targeted essay delved with the succession question in the Sultanate and, again, started out by showering the ruler with praise for putting his house in order — implying that it was not so before this latest action. According to the daily, His Majesty settled on two names, those of Sayyed Assad Bin Tarek Bin Taymour Al Said or [the or was particularly precious] Sayyed Haitham Bin Tarek Bin Taymour Al Said, two of his first cousins, because Sultan Qaboos was not married and had no heir.
The short article closed with a few general remarks, including that Sultan Qaboos is the eigth Al Bu Said Sultan, whose rule was the longest to date [44 years], that he studied in Britain, and that he does not give many interviews. According to the paper, the Sultan does not like the media because the latter pokes its nose in his affairs, even if he gave one to the American Journalist Judith Miller [now of Fox News fame] in 2012. At the time, he revealed that it was possible to solve American-Iranian disputes, and how he actually led the way through his intercessions to reach an accord on Iran’s nuclear programme although that was a work in progress.
Interestingly, the article closed with an affirmation that His Majesty only offered his mediation services when he was assured of success, and that more recently he objected to the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) union project or the proposed enlargement of the GCC Peninsula Shield efforts, two programmes Iran has disparaged.
On Monday, the Royal Court in Muscat issued a formal statement that assured Omanis that His Majesty was in “sound health after conducting medical tests” and that he was following “a specific medical programme” while in Germany from where he oversaw the affairs of the state. The Diwan stressed that Qaboos “expressed his deep thanks and appreciation for the sincere sentiments and allegiance of his loyal people, praying to the Almighty to protect all under His divine care.” There were no references to the stellar Al-Jadeed reportage.
Yellow journalism was all too common in this part of the world as best illustrated by Iran’s Press TV that claimed, for example, that King Abdullah Bin Abdul Aziz was clinically dead as recently as May 27, 2013. That report came after the November 2012 claim that the Saudi monarch was in a coma after he underwent surgery in Riyadh, though the 2013 version relied on a nameless Saudi journalist working for the London-based Al-Sharq Al-Awsat daily. In 2013, the Iranian source reported the alleged informer’s phantasmagoric assertion that “the king’s vital organs, including his heart, kidneys and lungs...[had] stopped functioning.” Mercifully, King Abdullah survived Press TV in 2013 too.
Other rulers received similar attention too. Repeated stories appeared on UAE President His Highness Shaikh Khalifa Bin Zayed Al Nahyan, who underwent emergency surgery after a stroke in January 2014, Kuwait’s ruler, Shaikh Sabah Al Ahmad Al Sabah, who was in and out of hospitals, and Qatar’s former ruler Shaikh Hamad Bin Khalifa Al Thani, who allegedly stepped down in June 2013 because he suffered from serious health problems.
As stated above, stories that pretend to know anything about the health conditions of rulers on the Arabian Peninsula must be understood in terms of their political objectives. There are those who wish to speculate about succession matters — as described above in the case of Oman — precisely to further muddy waters.
In the Sultanate’s case, and according to Article 5 of the country’s Basic Law, the successor must be a male descendant of Turki Bin Said, who ruled from 1871 to 1888. That is all there is to it, although Sultan Qaboos updated the constitution in 1996, stating the ruling family should unanimously choose a successor within 48 hours of his demise. Should they fail, Sultan Qaboos called on the Defence Council to assume temporary powers, and open a safe — there are, apparently two safes, one in Muscat and the other in Salalah, to prevent tempering — that contain a letter with the name of his Majesty’s nominated successor. This is neither rocket science nor an egregious mechanism. It is a carefully studied alternative to past shenanigans that caused havoc and, actually, a practical solution for Omanis.
Journalists in this part of the world ought to adopt higher standards of reportage and stop practicing its coloured versions. All humans will physically die at some point, and though rulers are not immune from such realities, the fates of nations are not associated with individuals. If one needs to speculate about politics, then one should own-up to one’s goal and persevere, but to spread rumours about a leader’s health borders on the hysterical.
Dr. Joseph A. Kechichian is the author of the forthcoming ‘Iffat Al Thunayan: An Arabian Queen, London: Sussex Academic Press, 2015.
