Protesters hold signs reading "Stop killing people in Sohar" and "Release our fathers, brothers, and sons" during a protest in front of the Public Prosecution building in Muscat.
Protesters hold signs reading "Stop killing people in Sohar" and "Release our fathers, brothers, and sons" during a protest in front of the Public Prosecution building in Muscat.

Demands to free Omani activists



MUSCAT // Protesters rallied outside Muscat's parliament building yesterday, demanding the release of dozens of activists arrested on Friday in the northern city of Sohar and an investigation into recent deaths.

The 150 or so protesters, some holding signs reading "We are in solidarity with Sohar", reiterated their calls for jobs, political reform and an end to corruption.

Protesters are seeking a government investigation into the deaths of two protesters that have been blamed on security forces since pro-reform demonstrations began in February.

Security was light outside the Shura Council, the elected house of Oman's parliament, but hundreds of police and military forces supported by armoured vehicles were deployed yesterday near two protest camps in Sohar, about 250 kilometres north of Muscat.

No violence was reported yesterday but Oman's government confirmed the arrest of 60 protesters for their role in the Sohar uprising.

A hospital worker in Sohar said at least one protester was killed in the government crackdown.

Oman's chief public prosecutor, Hussain al Hilali, told the state-run Oman News Agency that protesters shot back at officers, adding that five protesters were wounded, one critically. Witnesses said stone-throwing demonstrators, some wielding knives, clashed with the security forces after Friday prayers in Sohar.

"They threw stones and carried knives while the security forces used tear gas, water cannon to stop the protesters," a witness said. "When that did not work they shot in the air and then used rubber bullets aimed straight at the crowd of demonstrators."

A hospital source at Sohar, who did not want to be identified, said a man in his mid-twenties died with a head wound from a rubber bullet on Friday. If true, this would be the second death in five weeks of protests in Sohar. On February 27, security forces killed 38-year-old businessman Abdulla Al Ghamlasi.

Prior to Friday's violence, protesters had grown increasingly angry after security forces on Tuesday cleared two roundabouts in Sohar where 100 people had camped since late February. The roundabouts, about 15km apart, have been the centre of the protests in Sohar.

Protests in Oman, which produces an estimated 860,000 barrels of oil a day, have focused on government reform and economic opportunity. Many protesters have made allegations of widespread corruption among senior government officials.

Sultan Qaboos bin Said, who has ruled for 40 years, sacked 12 cabinet ministers last month in an effort to appease the pro-refrom movement. He ordered a pay hike for civil servants and pensioners, and promised to create 50,000 jobs.

Some protesters on Friday had set up roadblocks and were charging tolls from drivers, witnesses said, saying they were jobless and needed the money.

The Africa Institute 101

Housed on the same site as the original Africa Hall, which first hosted an Arab-African Symposium in 1976, the newly renovated building will be home to a think tank and postgraduate studies hub (it will offer master’s and PhD programmes). The centre will focus on both the historical and contemporary links between Africa and the Gulf, and will serve as a meeting place for conferences, symposia, lectures, film screenings, plays, musical performances and more. In fact, today it is hosting a symposium – 5-plus-1: Rethinking Abstraction that will look at the six decades of Frank Bowling’s career, as well as those of his contemporaries that invested social, cultural and personal meaning into abstraction. 

A timeline of the Historical Dictionary of the Arabic Language
  • 2018: Formal work begins
  • November 2021: First 17 volumes launched 
  • November 2022: Additional 19 volumes released
  • October 2023: Another 31 volumes released
  • November 2024: All 127 volumes completed
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Small Victories: The True Story of Faith No More by Adrian Harte
Jawbone Press

The specs

Engine: 1.5-litre, 4-cylinder turbo

Transmission: CVT

Power: 170bhp

Torque: 220Nm

Price: Dh98,900

The White Lotus: Season three

Creator: Mike White

Starring: Walton Goggins, Jason Isaacs, Natasha Rothwell

Rating: 4.5/5