NOT-SO-FREE EXPRESSION IN OMAN

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 03 MUSCAT 000443

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

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

E.O. 12958: DECL: 05/06/2017
TAGS: OIIP KPAO KMDR EINT PHUM MU
SUBJECT: NOT-SO-FREE EXPRESSION IN OMAN

REF: A. MUSCAT 357

B. 06 MUSCAT 1627

C. 06 MUSCAT 1684

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


1. (C) SUMMARY: In the wake of March's mixed verdict in the
trial of leaders of Oman's popular Al-Sablah discussion forum
(Ref A),post has been gathering impressions on the state of
free expression in the Sultanate. Two recent meetings, the
first with Al-Sablah's founder and the second with the father
of an activist who recently appeared on Al-Hurra TV, provide
personal insights both into how Omanis seeking to loosen the
country's restricted climate for dissent deal with official
pressure and how government attitudes closely mirror
traditional concerns with consensus and the importance of
appearances. Both show the lengths to which Omanis believe
their government will go in order to maintain those
appearances. The first meeting confirmed that Al-Sablah's
closure was precipitated by uncensored discussion implying
misconduct and/or incompetence by high-ranking officials, as
well as continuing pressure even on those acquitted in the
Al-Sablah trial. The second indicated that rumors of ongoing
harrassment even after the activist voluntarily expatriated
himself have some validity. That both Omanis preferred
meeting with an Embassy LES in lieu of an American officer
indicates the caution they feel is necessary. END SUMMARY.

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THE PERSONAL IS POLITICAL...AND UNACCEPTABLE
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2. (C) In a late-April meeting with a senior Omani-national
embassy employee, Al-Sablah founder Said Al-Rashdi (strictly
protect) discussed the circumstances that led to the
crackdown on his site, his reaction to the trial in which he
was acquitted, and his thoughts on what next steps he may
take. Al-Rashdi clarified what post had suspected: that the
precipitating factor in the closure was the presence of
content that went beyond critical discussion of local issues
to discussion of individuals and their perceived role in
those issues. Al-Rashdi blamed two specific threads. The
first implicated a regional governor in the mismanagement of
water resources in his area (and ridiculed him for blandly
optimistic public pronouncements that clearly contradicted
the situation on the ground). The second was uncomplimentary
regarding the role of a senior official of state telecom
company Omantel in the firm's failure to deliver on promises
of better and more readily available Internet service (over
which it currently holds a monopoly). The discussion also
implied that the resulting technological backwardness
reflected badly on Oman in comparison to its neighbors and
was a missed investment opportunity. When the offending
material was not (as was generally the case on Al-Sablah)
promptly deleted by moderators, the affected governor
apparently referred the matter to the Public Prosecutor,
while the Omantel official went directly to contacts in the
security service.


3. (C) This one-two punch proved fatal for Al-Sablah. As
reported in Ref B, the site was closed and an inquiry
initiated. The resulting trial acquitted Al-Rashdi, but left
site moderators with fines and in one case a brief jail
sentence. While Al-Rashdi's comments on his own experience
echoed those he provided to the local press - that the entire
process was fair and "transparent" - he clarified how
sentencing was handled for his colleagues. The jail sentence
went to a moderator who had actively posted in the Omantel
discussion under a directly identifiable name, while, in
regard to the governor's case, a moderator who contributed
did so anonymously and indirectly, by sending content abroad
to be posted under a less clear alias. As a result, he was
only fined. The sentences showed, Al-Rashdi said, that
official surveillance went beyond the site itself to
moderators' off-site communications.


4. (C) Al-Rashdi's experiences during the investigation also
showed how little some in the Omani bureaucracy understand
new technology. Some who questioned him seemed to think that
discussion fora operated on the business model of a
traditional publication, asking how much he paid "his"
administrators and what academic or professional
qualifications were required of moderators and posters. They
were surprised that all involved were volunteers who freely
provided content of their own creation and that such content
was more akin to a discussion among friends than to the
contents of a print periodical. The way forward for
Al-Sablah is similarly shaped by local inexperience.
Al-Rashdi has been told he may reopen the site, but that it
would be incumbent on him to provide authorities with

MUSCAT 00000443 002 OF 003


regional and international examples of applicable laws and
regulations over such sites, as well as to guarantee that
there is no repeat of such personal attacks or even
commentary on individuals on the resurrected site. While he
is considering his options (including draconian measures such
as having participants sign off on a detailed "terms of
service" agreement with every posting),Al-Rashdi said that
the whole experience has had too deep an effect on his
personal and professional life for him to want to rush back
into the online fray.

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EVER HAD THE FEELING YOU WERE BEING WATCHED?
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5. (C) Also in late April, a senior Omani-national employee
of the Embassy met with the father of Abdullah Al-Riyami
(strictly protect),an activist now living abroad who
recently appeared on Al-Hurra TV's "Eye on Democracy" to
discuss his work with the Arab Human Rights Association and
prospects for democracy in the region. Local sensitivities
seem to have been especially ruffled by two things: that,
during the broadcast, Al-Riyami discussed "dictatorship" in a
way that, indirectly, could be seen to include Oman's own
leadership, and that he wore Western clothes in lieu of Omani
traditional dress. Muscat's rumor mill has been bruiting
about a story that in the wake of the appearance, Al-Riyami's
laptop had been stolen under mysterious circumstances.
Al-Riyami's father, a longtime family friend of our staffer,
provided detail on that incident as well as on how the family
copes with having such a controversial relative.


6. (C) The father confirmed that while in Dubai recently in
connection with his Al-Hurra appearance, Al-Riyami was robbed
while exiting a taxi. In what he characterized as a
"well-organized and not coincidental" theft, his son's bag,
containing both a laptop and documents, was snatched, with
the thieves disappearing quickly into a car before the victim
could react or note its licence. Al-Riyami moved to Morocco
(his wife's country of origin) after being detained in Oman
in November 2006. During the two weeks of investigation that
followed his arrest, Al-Riyami was questioned in regard to
his activism and pressured to sign a document agreeing not to
write or comment on "sensitive topics." He refused and
departed Oman upon his release. His father said that contact
with his son is difficult, as he presumes that his own
telephones, landlines and mobile, are monitored, and that as
a result he relies on frequently changing mobile simcards.
In addition, the father indicated his belief that he and
other family members are subject to physical surveillance.
Even so, the family remains resolute in supporting Al-Riyami,
a reflection of a longtime commitment to freedom of speech
and civil rights in the Sultanate. Both father and son have
been involved in such work as early as the late seventies and
early eighties, when they were part of a group who published
a quickly suppressed private magazine of cultural and social
commentary.

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COMMENT: KEEPING UP APPEARANCES
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7. (C) Both interlocutors remain remarkably sanguine under
difficult circumstances. Both find themselves in situations
that dramatize Oman's conflicting approach to dealing with
dissent and "sensitive topics." The treatment meted out to
Al-Rashdi and his colleagues shows how much value Omani
society places on the appearance of consensus and the
perceived need to avoid pointing fingers at individuals (and,
by extension, their tribe). It is characteristic not only
that Al-Rashdi would be expected, should he choose to
continue as a webmaster, to guarantee anodyne content on his
site, but to provide via international examples the framework
in which he would do so. In a similar vein, his Al-Sablah
colleague who was jailed in the end served only a few days of
his sentence, as is often typical of such cases in Oman; the
example had been made, and, presumably, the lesson learned.
The emphasis, in Al-Riyami's case, that investigators put on
his "voluntarily" agreeing to refrain from future
troublemaking, demonstrates the Omani belief that those
involved can be persuaded to see the error of their ways.
The heavy-handedness that has followed his refusal equally
shows that even in moderate Oman, such stubborness has a
price.


8. (C) COMMENT CONTINUED: Related conversations and
observation in recent weeks have further illuminated the
situation. Sources reliably report that there was
considerable division within the bureaucracy regarding the
closure of Al-Sablah, with the office of the Public

MUSCAT 00000443 003 OF 003


Prosecutor feeling obliged to respond to official pressure
even as elements of the police and security services were
reluctant to lose one of the few reliable gauges of local
popular opinion. Willingness to have Al-Rashdi resume his
activities, in however restricted a fashion, and limited
official interference with the (considerably more cautious)
Al-Sablah alternatives that have sprung up (Ref C) may show
ongoing interest in having access to such expression. It is
likely no coincidence, as well, that the local private print
media have responded since the Al-Sablah verdict with content
that, while slightly acerbic in discussing local institutions
and practices, more than ever avoids individuals and
personalities. Omanis are justly proud of the social
stability and the cohesiveness of the Sultanate's national
identity developed over the past three decades. The narrow
climate for public expression, however, is one less-positive
byproduct. The treatment meted out, in different ways, to
Al-Rashdi and Al-Riyami, seems calculated to ensure that few
will feel inclined to follow their lead. END COMMENT.
GRAPPO