OMAN ONLINE: HUMAN RIGHTS, FOLEY KILLERS, AND PRISON

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 MUSCAT 000389 SIPDIS STATE FOR NEA/ARPI, NEA/PPD, NEA/P, AND IIP/G/NEA E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: KPAO SOCI MU SUBJECT: OMAN ONLINE: HUMAN RIGHTS, FOLEY KILLERS, AND PRISON ASSAULT ¶1. Summary: The Omani Internet message board "al-Sablah" is the liveliest and most comprehensive Arabic-language forum for political and social discourse in the country, touching on issues and personalities rarely addressed in the conventional media. While neither totally free nor wholly reflective of Omani public opinion, this popular site nevertheless offers a worthwhile window into the hot topics and unvarnished views of the day. This edition of Oman Online contains the following topics: -- Reaction to State Department Human Rights Report -- Execution of Foley Killers -- Jericho Prison Assault -- Personnel Shuffle in Omani Government End summary. -------------- Human Rights Report -------------- ¶2. Al-Sablah published an informal partial translation of the State Department's Human Rights country report on Oman, which includes mention of activists Abdullah al-Riyami and Taybah al- Ma'wali. Nearly all respondents characterized the U.S. stance on human rights as hypocritical: "Who is America to talk about human rights? It is the most violent country." "These reports are not credible, produced by the most flagrant violator of human rights." "Why don't they publish reports about Abu Ghraib, Guantanamo, Afghanistan or even about economic freedom and the Dubai port deal?" One contributor wrote, "We all know that the report's facts are correct, but this is truth for a bad purpose." Another stated that "This report is not for the benefit of Omanis; it was written for the sake of the free trade agreement and to satisfy the American Congress." The topic generated 3,629 hits, and 40 responses. Most respondents supported the idea of protecting human rights, but felt that the U.S. report was hypocritical. -------------- Execution of Foley Killers -------------- ¶3. Al-Sablah members accused the Jordanian royal family of seeking to please the U.S. by executing the individuals convicted of murdering diplomat Lawrence Foley in Amman. "The death sentence was implemented a few days ago and nobody objected to it, yet America objected to Libya's decision to execute the Bulgarian nurses who killed hundreds of Libyan children...the (Jordanian) King and his predecessor were American agents. No wonder the Americans get what they want from us. Curse them!" All 11 responses to the topic opposed the execution of the killers and expressed antipathy towards the Jordanian royal family. There were 931 hits. -------------- Israeli Prison Assault -------------- ¶4. Al-Sablah members commented about the Israeli assault on a prison in Jericho, capturing PFLP general secretary Ahmed Saadat and several other Palestinians accused of killing Israel's tourism minister in 2001. Most members adopted a conspiratorial view of the operation, agreeing that "The assault was coordinated ahead of time. The U.S. and British troops guarding Ahmed Saadat pulled out just before the Israeli assault." There was also much agreement with the statement that "The Americans and British are the ones who should be called terrorists, and they support Zionist plans in the region." There were two discussion threads on this topic, with total hits at 603, and 54 responses. -------------- Personnel Shuffle -------------- ¶5. Al-Sablah members reacted to Khalid al-Amri's replacing Dr. Munir al-Maskary as Undersecretary for the Ministry of Manpower, responsible for all of Oman's technical colleges (which play a crucial role in preparing large numbers of young Omanis for the job market). Some members agreed that "Dr. Munir al-Maskary is an educated man who contributed to the development of higher education in Oman." Others noted that "he is known for his excellent experience, which included being the head of the first private two-year college in Oman and later dean of the first four year degree granting institution, the Modern College of Business and Science." However, many respondents felt that "Dr. al- Maskary failed in drafting and setting guidelines for the technical colleges to follow. He made contradictory decisions regarding the schools, which resulted in many changes and transitions that the schools kept going through the past two years." The topic generated 948 hits and seven responses. 90 per cent of the respondents felt that the shuffle was symptomatic of the government's failure to install qualified people in the right positions; 10% wished to see more changes for the benefit of technical-college students. BALTIMORE