Oman police deny media reports on jail hunger strike

Reports of a mass hunger strike at Samail jail have been denied by senior police officials.

Local Arabic media and a Dubai-based English daily had reported that 1,800 Omani inmates began a hunger strike on Sunday in the jail as their names were not included in the recent Royal pardon by His Majesty Sultan Qaboos bin Said for a number of inmates.

But a senior police official told Times of Oman: "No mass hunger is going on in Samail jail as reported by media. The reports are baseless. Only 10 inmates have resisted to take food to protest against omission of their names from the pardon list. They were not meeting the criteria to be on the list.”

On November 17, His Majesty issued a Royal pardon to a number of prisoners convicted of different cases. They included 160 prisoners, 67 of them are expats of different nationalities.

His Majesty’s pardon coincided with the 45th National Day as well as in consideration of their family.

Such decrees are often issued on occasions like the National Day, Ramadan, Eid Al Fitr and Eid Al Adha every year.