2 Murders in Oman, more Brothels busted

Shock & scandal!

Reported today were 2 murders in Oman. At least reported in the Gulf papers, naturally. See the Khaleej Times. I couldn't find anything in the Oman English papers on line. Did anyone see anything in the Arabic press??? Instead they report a series of total non-news stories, as usual.

First was an Omani man killed, suspected of being murdered by his wife. Although there are no details in the press, rumour is the wife allegedly was a bit miffed because he married a second wife. (There's a lesson for you chaps...)

MUSCAT – A woman has been arrested in Mudhaibi in Oman for allegedly murdering her husband with the help of a third person. Public Prosecution Attorney Fahd bin Masoud Al Balushi said police were investigating the case, but did not give names of the victim or the accused.

The man died after being hit on the head, and his body was later found in a nearby water well, Balushi was quoted as saying by local newspapers on Saturday. The woman was considered as the prime suspect, he added.
...

The second incident sounds like a real interesting one with touches of Romeo and Juliet, after the girl appealed to the court to let her marry a boy despite the objections of her family, and a crowd of guys stormed into a court and killed someone with a Khanjar. Wow. It doesn't say if the victim was the fiancee or not. But clearly a lot of passion.

14 September 2008
MUSCAT –
...
In another incident, in Samad Al Shan, Sharqiya region, a man was killed and 10 others injured in a dispute over a marriage proposal. The crime occurred in the local Primary Court. The man, an Omani citizen, was killed with a khanjar (dagger) and 10 others were injured in the brawl.

A police team found a firearm, bullets, sticks and daggers in the cars of the suspects. Eighteen people have been arrested. Investigations revealed that the daughter of one of the accused sought the assistance of the court in marrying a man of her choice who was not acceptable to her relatives. As the girl and her fiancé were at the court, a group of men rushed into the court and a fighting began during which one among the group was killed.
...

And lastly, several brothels, again run by those pesky 'Asians', were busted. Gulf News: Police smash vice ring in Muscat

Muscat: The Public Prosecutor's office, says that they have uncovered a case of runaway housemaids being lured into prostitution.

Without naming nationalities or numbers, Prosecution Attorney Ahmad Bin Talib Al Jabri said in a statement issued by the Public Prosecution Department that a case has been transferred to the Primary Court in Muscat against a group of people for allegedly running prostitution cells in the country.

"The suspects have admitted their involvement in the crimes," he added. The Public Prosecution Department raided some houses in Muscat, where men and women were found to be practising prostitution. Public Prosecution Attorney Ahmad Bin Said Al Jahwari, who interrogated the suspects, explained that the suspects encouraged housemaids to run away from their sponsors and work for the group as prostitutes. The Public Prosecution Department has urged owners of rented houses to report any such misuse of their properties.

For those interested in how utterly useless the papers are in Oman for actually finding out anything interesting, here are the local headlines from the Observer today, the output achieved by our valiant and hard working 4th Estate, following the arduous use of the copy and paste function on press releases and the wire services...

Local Stories on 14th September

Al Azhar university official received
German cargo ship heads for Oman after release by Somali pirates
TRA unit wins ISO-9001
4th Nawras Goodwill Journey kicks off
Oman Mobile signs mobile spam code
Incredible India show to be held at LuLu hypermarkets
BSM students among Edexcel’s top 10
GCC central banks meet
Unlimited SMS, voice and video calls for Nawras postpaid customers
More demand for fruits and vegetables
Information session on GUtech courses, scholarships today
Tamil album launch on Wednesday

Oman punishes prostitutes with prison and deportation

I just noticed the unusual report published in the Tribune on July 5th, about a pimp and some prostitutes getting busted by the ROP. Yes readers, SHOCK HORROR! – Oman has brothels. Who would’ve imagined that? The brothel bust was also confirmed by Juma al-Juma, Minister of manpower, in an interview with the Financial Times on 14th July.

The issue I have with the report is the usual treatment that was meted out to the poor working girls, i.e. 6 months in prison followed by deportation.

I don’t know the specifics of the girls, but it is very, very often the case that such women are not being prostitutes because they like the work. In fact, such illegal brothels are usually staffed by women being forced to have sex. Against their will, and usually with regular violence and rape too. Many such women are effectively sex slaves, and typical victims of human trafficking. But the standard response here (and elsewhere in the Gulf) is to punish them even more. Another reason why Oman deserved Tier 3, if you ask me.

A significant side effect of such treatment is the women can’t even go to the authorities. In fact, being turned over to the ROP will be used as yet another threat against them. Its disgusting.

The press too, as usual, don’t follow up. Why not interview the girls? How many prostitutes were there? Who were their clients? How did they get into this business? Where was the brothel? And who was his Omani sponsor - aren't the sponsors of expats also held partially responsible for their crimes? (Plus, I imagine its a pretty full time job being a pimp and running a brothel. His sponsor didn't know? Yeah right...)

And how co-incidental that it happened right after the US State dept report… Fancy that!

Police raid brothel
By A Staff Reporter
July 5th 2008
MUSCAT The Royal Oman Police arrested a person of Asian origin for running a brothel.

The arrested person was trying to persuade the sponsor of a lady who was under the custody of Seeb police to allow her to work with him after paying him a considerable amount of money, said an official source at the General Prosecution.

The suspect was put under surveillance and it was found that he was running a brothel.

The General Prosecution issued a warrant against the accused after it was found that his house was turned into a brothel.

The accused was charged for running a brothel and was referred to the court which ordered the pimp to one year imprisonment and the prostitutes to six months imprisonment and deportation.

General Prosecution has called upon the local residents to report such incidents or any illegal practices that contravene with the Omani society to the police.

Unless you're a prostitute that is, because then we'll throw you in prison.

I have a feeling that, despite the protests over the tier 3, there may well be a hell of a lot more brothels in Oman than the one busted earlier this month.

Here's the story of just 1 such woman, as published in the Times of India on the 30th March earlier this year.

KOCHI: It was midnight when Salim's (name changed) flight landed in Muscat on March 14. The weather was strange and so were the faces. All he had was Rs 6,000. But he knew he couldn't afford to despair.

As he rode a taxi to Ruwi City, Salim had one prayer on his lips - his wife should be alive. The last he had heard from her was a wail, before the call to their home in Malappuram in Kerala went blank.

The 32-year-old man had no idea that his wife had been trapped in a deadly, organised prostitution racket. She was sold and resold several times in Oman, where she was promised a job as a housemaid.

But he was determined to save her even if it meant risking his life. His efforts succeeded when Oman police, with the help of the Indian embassy, rescued her on March 23.

Arabian dreams lured Salim and his wife after he suffered business losses last year. The couple, married for two years, approached an agent who agreed to arrange visas for them - a housemaid's job for her and something else for him. Her visa came first and she left for Muscat on January 21, 2008 leaving behind Salim.

After about 40 days, he got a call from her. In between sobs, she told him that she had been cheated and would end her life. He was shattered but decided to rescue her at any cost. He then approached the same agent for a visa.

In Muscat, he got in touch with a man involved in the flesh trade and asked him to get his wife without revealing his relationship with her. The man took him to her for 35 riyals (Rs 3,500).

"They had lodged her on the terrace of what looked like a commercial complex. She cried and fainted as soon as she saw me but I reassured her saying I will be around. They became suspicious and tortured her into disclosing my identity," Salim told TOI from Muscat.

During their meeting, she narrated her woeful tale. "As soon as she arrived, the agent took her to a house where three men assaulted her. Then she was sold for 700 riyals to a pimp who would use her to satisfy as many as 30 men a day. He resold her for 200 riyals to one Jayalakshmi, a Keralite pimp."