Convention against Torture and the Practices of the Omani Internal Security Service
The Unseen Brutality of the Internal Security Service

Despite Oman’s announcement of ratifying the Convention Against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment in 2020, which was positively received by many human rights organisations, local laws in Oman continue to infringe on human rights.
During the wave of protests that swept through several Omani cities in 2021, Omani Internal Security Service (intelligence) forces detained a number of activists and demonstrators. Subsequently, numerous arrests have occurred since that time, primarily initiated through summons for questioning, which then transition into trials due to issues related to freedom of opinion and expression. Most individuals are held during questioning in secretive detention facilities affiliated with the internal security apparatus, without access to legal representation, albeit with very limited communication allowed with their families.
Most individuals are held during questioning in secretive detention facilities affiliated with the internal security service, without access to legal representation, albeit with very limited communication allowed with their families. Additionally, some activists or bloggers are subject to abduction by special security forces affiliated with the internal security apparatus, often from public locations.
One of the practices employed by the security service during detention is to cover the detainee’s head with a black bag before being taken to an unknown and undisclosed location, as previously mentioned. Additionally, detainees are subjected to various forms of psychological torture, such as sleep deprivation, exposure to loud noise through continuous playing of loud music for 24 hours, exposure to constant bright lighting, or deprivation of food and drink for hours or even days.
According to reports received by the OCHRD, some detainees were subjected to various forms of psychological torture, such as being deprived of sleep, exposed to loud and continuous music for 24 hours, subjected to constant and intense lighting, or deprived of food and water for extended periods of time, sometimes lasting for days, or being denied access to toilets.
According to Article 1 of the Convention Against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment, torture is:
“any act by which severe pain or suffering, whether physical or mental, is intentionally inflicted on a person for such purposes as obtaining from him or a third person information or a confession, punishing him for an act he or a third person has committed or is suspected of having committed, or intimidating or coercing him or a third person, or for any reason based on discrimination of any kind, when such pain or suffering is inflicted by or at the instigation of or with the consent or acquiescence of a public official or other person acting in an official capacity.”
Despite Oman signing the Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment in 2020, through Decree No. 45/2020, the ISS persists in using the same interrogation techniques and torture methods on prisoners of conscience. In fact, the issue of Decree No. 4/2020 by the current sultan, Haitham bin Tariq, granted the ISS broader powers to monitor, spy, search and arrests. The decree also gave the head of the ISS unlimited powers to issue the bye-laws and regulations needed to implement the new Law.
Moreover, the authorities have arrested activists and dissidents of other gulf cooperation countries (GCC) and forcibly returned them to their countries, which contradicts Article 3 of the agreement that Oman has ratified.
Unfortunately, individuals in Oman who have been subjected to torture, enforced disappearance, or arbitrary detention by the ISS are not entitled to pursue legal action against those who have tortured them, which is a violation of Articles 13 and 14 of the Convention. This is because Article 5 of the ISS Law handles all information about the ISS and its employees and documents as national security secrets.