CAIRO: The Oman government on Friday jailed a number of bloggers in the country, activists reported. According to lawyer Bassma Mubarak al-Kayoumi, bloggers Nabhan Al Hinshi, Hamad Al Kharousi, Hmoud Al Rashidi, Ali Al Saedi, Ali Al Hajji, Khalfan Al Badwawi and Eshaq Al Aghbari were all imprisoned for their writings. It is unclear what the exact reasons for their arrests were, but the lawyer said in comments to Gulf News that she believes the government plans to charge them with violating Article 18 and 24. “Article 18 stresses the fact that personal freedom is protected by law which stipulates that the arrest, search, detention or imprisonment of a human being was illegal unless it was in compliance with law,” she said. “Article 24 stipulates that whoever is arrested must be told about the reason for his or her arrest. He or she has the right to call whomever needs to be alerted about the arrest to provide assistance within the confines of the law. The authorities must promptly inform the arrested person about the charges leveled against him or her,” she said. The legal representative has the right to take the case about the restriction on the personal freedom of the arrested person to the judiciary. Kayoumi also said that the procedures adopted by the security authorities have violated the basic laws in the country.
