Muscat court postpones council member case
Members of Shura Council and Municipal Council were accused of undermining the status of the state
Muscat: The Court of First Instance in Muscat has postponed the request of lawyers for the release of seven defendants in Liwa riots case.
The accused are Liwa Shura Council member Talib Al Maamari and Liwa Municipal Council member Saqr Al Balushi as well as five others.
The case has been adjourned to March 24 to let the defence lawyers review the case and to decide whether to release the accused or not. The Public Prosecution has charged the seven accused of wrongful gathering, traffic disruption as well as undermining the status of the state. However, all the defendants denied the charges.
The defence lawyer asked the judge for the immediate release of the accused but the court postponed the request till the next hearing.
The defendants’ lawyers criticised the court’s decision arguing that after the Appeals Court of Muscat refuted the charges levelled against them last month.
However, the Public Prosecution justified the court’s decision to again refer the case to a competent court.
Sources told Gulf News, that the person who referred the case to the Muscat Appeals Court was not the Minister of Justice, which violated the Article 141.
