OMAN: MIXED SIGNALS ON FREEDOM OF EXPRESSION

UNCLAS MUSCAT 001627 SIPDIS SIPDIS DEPT FOR NEA/ARP NFRANCESCHI, NEA/PPD AFERNANDEZ, DBENZE DUBAI PLEASE PASS TO MPELLETIER SENSITIVE E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: PGOV PREL ECPS KPAO MU SUBJECT: OMAN: MIXED SIGNALS ON FREEDOM OF EXPRESSION Sensitive but unclassified; please handle accordingly. -------------- SUMMARY -------------- ¶1. (U) Two events during the past week presented a sharp contrast between rhetoric and reality in terms of public expression in Oman. On November 19, Minister of Information Hamad bin Mohammed Al Rasdhi addressed the Oman Journalists Association (OJA) and stated unequivocally that "the press in Oman is free." On November 22, by contrast, readers of popular online forum Al Sablah found the site shut down, at least temporarily, for content-related reasons. END SUMMARY. -------------- --- MINISTER SPEAKS AT A NO-PRESS "PRESS CONFERENCE" -------------- --- ¶2. (U) Continuing a recent series of programs featuring high-ranking officials, the OJA hosted the Minister of Information on November 19. As has been the case with earlier such events, the evening was described as a "press conference," but differed from those at which the Ministers of Foreign Affairs, National Economy, and the Interior spoke in that, at the Minister's request, this session was closed to the working press and attended only by a small group of OJA members and its board. The Minister's remarks, and his answers to questions, hewed closely to the official line that "Oman has a free press," defended the press law now in use, and held that the aim of his ministry's work is to "avoid exaggeration." Subsequent coverage of the program was limited (even more than the intentionally bland coverage of the Association's previous events) and carefully vetted by the Ministry. Brief articles headlined his declaration regarding press freedom and passed over, for example, questions on the relatively small number of private broadcast licenses issued to date. -------------- ONLINE FORUM CROSSES THE LINE -------------- ¶3. (SBU) Within days of the Minister's reassuring statements, however, Oman's leading online discussion forum Al Sablah (www.omania.net) was closed and its moderator temporarily detained. In a short statement now posted on the site in place of its message boards, Al Sablah's Said Al Rashdi says that he has been "released," and that the site is unavailable "pending investigation." Embassy contacts indicate that the site crossed the line in hosting a discussion sharply critical of Oman's public prosecutor's office, and that as a result Al Rashdi was detained on November 22 and released the next day. With the site unavailable as of November 25, it is not possible to say exactly what was posted, but the site was previously involved in critical discussion of the same office that likely contributed to a leadership shakeup, a situation that officials are apparently eager not to see repeated. ¶4. (SBU) COMMENT: Al Sablah is, according to the site's domain-registration information, physically maintained on servers in the U.S. However, it is administered entirely by local moderators and, therefore, subject to local pressure to vet its contents and exercise censorship. While this generally takes the form of more or less voluntary self-censorship, the closing, at least temporarily, of the site shows that Omani officials remain willing to use a heavy hand in ensuring that comment, especially in this very popular forum, "avoids exaggeration." Assisting in this clampdown is the extent to which Oman's print and broadcast media wholly avoid controversial reporting and so are very unlikely to cover the silencing of Al Sablah. END COMMENT. GRAPPO