Oman discloses extremists group that includes remarkable figures
Oman, Politics, 4/15/2005

The authority in Oman disclosed the detention of scores, who were described by diplomatic sources as influential persons, accused of being members in an extremist Islamic trend to restore a ruling regime based on Imam hierarchy. A system which was abandoned in 1959.

News reports said that there is no evidence on that the members of the group, who come from effective tribes, adopt violence as a policy, noting that members in this group were scholars, preachers, university rectors and governmental figures who belong to al-Abadieh sect to which Sultan Qabous and the majority of the Omani embrace.

The Omani authorities said that the detainees are accused of being involved in establishing what it described an illegal society against the state's national security and its policy towards modernization and openness. The Omani attorney general said that the detainees will be tried soon.

The sources disclosed that among the detainees are Saleh al-Reikhi, the director general of mosques at the Sultan's court, and Kahlan al-Kharisi who presides over the Omani pilgrims mission annually.

Worthy mentioning that in 1994, Oman announced that a Sunni Islamic group was discovered and extremists were sentences to death under the charge of destabilizing the country's stability. The Sultan alleviated the death penalty sentences.

Previous Stories:
  Oman and Syria to boost trade relations   (3/31/2005)
  Oman: continued detention for 10 Islamists   (2/4/2005)
  Muscat: recent detentions covered men of religion   (1/28/2005)

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