Identifier
Created
Classification
Origin
07MUSCAT357
2007-04-11 11:16:00
CONFIDENTIAL
Embassy Muscat
Cable title:  

INTERNET TRIAL REINFORCES ONLINE CHILL

Tags:  OIIP KPAO KMDR EINT PHUM MU 
pdf how-to read a cable
VZCZCXRO1143
PP RUEHDE
DE RUEHMS #0357/01 1011116
ZNY CCCCC ZZH
P 111116Z APR 07
FM AMEMBASSY MUSCAT
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 8076
INFO RUEHDE/AMCONSUL DUBAI 0335
C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 MUSCAT 000357 

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

DEPT FOR NEA/ARP NFRANCESCHI, NEA/PPD AFERNANDEZ, DBENZE
DUBAI PLEASE PASS TO MPELLETIER

E.O. 12958: DECL: 04/11/2017
TAGS: OIIP KPAO KMDR EINT PHUM MU
SUBJECT: INTERNET TRIAL REINFORCES ONLINE CHILL

REF: A. 06 MUSCAT 1627

B. 06 MUSCAT 1684

Classified By: Ambassador Gary A. Grappo, reasons 1.4 b and d

-------
SUMMARY
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C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 MUSCAT 000357

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

DEPT FOR NEA/ARP NFRANCESCHI, NEA/PPD AFERNANDEZ, DBENZE
DUBAI PLEASE PASS TO MPELLETIER

E.O. 12958: DECL: 04/11/2017
TAGS: OIIP KPAO KMDR EINT PHUM MU
SUBJECT: INTERNET TRIAL REINFORCES ONLINE CHILL

REF: A. 06 MUSCAT 1627

B. 06 MUSCAT 1684

Classified By: Ambassador Gary A. Grappo, reasons 1.4 b and d

--------------
SUMMARY
--------------


1. (C) Online discussion in Oman remains muted in the wake
of the November 2006 closure of the Sultanate's most popular
online forum, "Al-Sablah." In early 2007, the site's founder
and nine colleagues were tried on charges including
violations of Oman's press and communications laws. Although
a March 2007 verdict acquitted the principal defendants (the
remainder were subject to fines and, in one case, a brief
jail term),the site remains closed and its successors in
general studiously avoid possible controversy. END SUMMARY.

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THE PROBLEMS OF "A FORUM FOR ANYONE"
--------------


2. (U) The term "Al-Sablah" refers to a traditional Omani
meeting place used for discussing important social and
political issues. Since its founding in 1999, the Al-Sablah
site (www.omania.net) reflected that tradition, with lively
discussion on a broad range of international and domestic
issues. Al-Sablah's influence (and capacity to mobilize
participants) was demonstrated in 2003 by an anti-war
demonstration in Muscat ) small, but significant given Omani
reticence about public expressions of political opinion )
the organization of which the site facilitated. At its
height, the site had more than 10,000 registered members and
received up to 300,000 hits per day.


3. (U) On November 22, 2006, Omani authorities closed
"Al-Sablah" (Ref A). Subsequently, site administrator Said
Al-Rashdi and nine other participants were briefly detained
and scheduled for a January 2007 court appearance.


4. (C) In the months preceding the Al-Sablah closure, Omani
authorities apparently began tracing the IP addresses of
participants through Omantel, the Sultanate's sole Internet
Service Provider (ISP). According to Embassy sources, the
authorities reportedly confiscated the computers of those

whose comments violated Omani norms of self-censorship in
regard to discussion of public officials and aspects of Omani
domestic policies.


5. (U) There was no press reporting on the site's closure.
However, a December 20, 2006 editorial in "Al-Watan", the
Sultanate's widest-circulating Arabic-language daily
(circulation 42,000),laid out some of the official concerns
regarding the site's contents in a column that accused the
site of being "an electronic hiding place":

"Al-Sablah was an important electronic channel for
individuals to learn about domestic developments, but it
crossed a red line when it started to defame peoples'
reputation. It went beyond even that when it initiated
discussion about sectarian and minority issues, discussions
that are prohibited by religion and law. It also interfered
with other countries' internal affairs and defamed their
people. This electronic media provided a forum for anyone,
even those with no journalistic training, to discuss the
lives of others without any moral limits."

--------------
DISCUSSION FORUM OR "CRIME SCENE"?
--------------


6. (U) Al-Rashdi and the other Al Sablah defendants first
appeared in court on Sunday, January 28, 2007, when,
according to youth-oriented daily "Al-Shabiba" (circulation
20,000) - the only paper to report on the trial - the
hearings were postponed until mid-February. "Al-Shabiba"
reported that "among the charges brought against Al-Sablah's
administrator are violating the law of printing and
publishing, while others who had posted comments on the site
are accused of violating the Omani penal code and the
communications law. The public prosecutor has called for
closing Al-Sablah once and for all, labeling it 'a crime
scene.'"


7. (SBU) On March 25, 2007, after at least three additional
trial sessions that were not reported, the public prosecutor
announced a verdict: not guilty for Al-Rashdi and two other
defendants; fines between 300 and 1,500 Omani Rials (between
approximately $800 and $3,900) for six others; and a fine of

MUSCAT 00000357 002 OF 002


4,000 Omani Rials (approximately $10,400) and one month's
imprisonment for the remaining defendant (this proportionally
harsh judgment was apparently reserved for the defendant who
had made personal attacks on at least one senior official).

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REACTION TO TRIAL
--------------


8. (SBU) The original Al-Sablah site remains closed, with the
site carrying only a graphic praising Sultan Qaboos and a
message from al-Rashdi confirming that he was found innocent
and thanking supporters for standing with him in his work.
Several alternative sites have sprung up in reaction to the
Al-Sablah closure (Ref B),including "Al-Sablah 2" at
www.omania2.net. Many of these sites carry messages to the
effect that Omanis are capable of creating numerous other
Al-Sablahs for each one the government closes. Beyond
expressing solidarity with Al-Rashdi and the other Al-Sablah
participants on trial, however, there has not been
significant online discussion of the trial and its outcome,
and with the exception of the two articles in "Al-Shabiba",
nothing in the press.


9. (U) On April 11, "Al-Shabiba" interviewed Said Al-Rashdi,
front-paging the story under the headline "The Return of
Al-Sablah or its Permanent Closure...A Matter of Time!"
Al-Rashdi both affirmed his belief that the site served a
useful purpose in expanding the boundaries of Omani free
expression and distanced himself from its more controversial
content, saying it had "gone beyond the limits". He
expressed satisfaction with the judicial process and his own
verdict, refraining from comment on the others. He
characterized the site's future as a "personal decision" for
him to make, and said that if it were to return, it would
only be with significantly greater supervision and
monitoring.

--------------
COMMENT
--------------


10. (C) The Al-Sablah trial and the mixed signals sent by
its verdict have done nothing to alleviate the chill in
Oman's climate for public discourse first reported at the
time of the site's shutdown. Al-Rashdi's comments confirm
consistent local speculation that should Al-Sablah return, it
would require yet further self-censorship by participants to
avoid content offensive to local sensitivities and would be
subject to even heavier-handed monitoring and editing. In
the short term at least, neither Al-Sablah (should it
reappear) nor Oman's other fledgling fora are likely to
permit discussion as free and relatively uninhibited as was
the case before the trial. Were Post to search for a bright
spot, however limited, in the situation, it would be that at
least one Arabic-language paper has reported, albeit
cautiously, on both the trial and verdict, and that much of
that reporting was carried out by a 2006 Edward R. Murrow
Fellow. END COMMENT.
GRAPPO