Muscat: Muscat’s Primary Court has postponed a high-profile trial of three Omani journalists until August 22.
The court also ordered a media blackout over reporting on the trial.
The Al Zaman journalists are being tried after the government accused them of publishing reports targeting the country’s judiciary system.
The first court session on Monday witnessed a huge turnout from various media outlets, as well as the Oman Journalism Association and the Oman Human Rights Commission (OHRC).
The OHRC met on Sunday with the defendants: Editor-in-chief Ebrahim Al Mamari and journalists Yousuf Al Haj and Zahir Al Abri.
It affirmed the men were in good health, had not been mistreated in anyway and had spoken to their families over the telephone.
The case, which has polarised public opinion in the country, has garnered regional and international attention.
Last week, 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 newspaper violated freedom of expression by running the report, the government said in a statement run by ONA, the state-run news agency.
The Government promised legal action against the journalists but said freedom of expression “remains an authentic value that cannot be evaded and that freedom of expression should become a responsible action that is not motivated by any personal impulses”.
The daily published a story on July 27 titled “Supreme bodies tie the hands of justice”, accusing government officials of pressuring top judges in the Supreme Court to overturn a decision in an inheritance case.
On social media, many Omanis were sympathetic with the daily, saying it exposed corruption in the country. Speaking to Al Hayat newspaper, a top Omani official said that newspapers were publishing such news after the government suspended financial support to local newspapers due to an economic crisis due to the slump in oil prices.
