Oman human rights activist forcibly disappeared: rights monitor

A prominent Omani human rights activist is believed to have been detained by the country's security services, a local rights monitor said on Friday.

The Gulf Centre for Human Rights (GCHR) said it had received credible reports that Talib al-Saedi had been forcibly disappeared by the Internal Security Service after being called in to a police station in the port city of Sohar on 30 November.

Authorities are preventing him from contacting his family or a lawyer, the organisation said.

GCHR called on the government to immediately release him and end its crackdown on human rights activists.

Al-Saedi is a prominent activist in Oman and is known for his work documenting cases of human rights defenders detained by the country's security services.

This is the third time he has been arrested by Omani authorities for his human rights activities and calls for political reform.

In 2014, he was detained for three weeks after calling for peaceful demonstrations in support of the Palestinians during Israel's brutal war on Gaza.

He was arrested again, less than a year late,r purportedly in relation to his activities on social media.

The latest arrest comes after he joined an online campaign criticising the government, after six people recently died from carbon monoxide poisoning in the city of Al-Amarat.

Oman operates strict censorship laws that outlaw criticism of the sultan and the government and restrict speech that threatens "public order".

Dozens of journalists, bloggers and rights activists have been detained for criticising authorities in recent years.

Human Rights Watch says that authorities harass peaceful activists, pro-reform bloggers and government critics with arrests and detentions.

In 2024, the government introduced sweeping new powers to regulate digital media, which GCHR said "perpetuates the systematic repression that has long been employed by the authorities to stifle dissent".