Muscat: The Court of First Instance in Muscat has postponed the request of lawyers for the release of seven defendants in Liwa riots case.

The accused are Liwa Shura Council member Talib Al Maamari and Liwa Municipal Council member Saqr Al Balushi as well as five others.

The case has been adjourned to March 24 to let the defence lawyers review the case and to decide whether to release the accused or not. The Public Prosecution has charged the seven accused of wrongful gathering, traffic disruption as well as undermining the status of the state. However, all the defendants denied the charges.

The defence lawyer asked the judge for the immediate release of the accused but the court postponed the request till the next hearing.

The defendants’ lawyers criticised the court’s decision arguing that after the Appeals Court of Muscat refuted the charges levelled against them last month.

However, the Public Prosecution justified the court’s decision to again refer the case to a competent court.

Oman’s Supreme Court in February overturned the verdict of Muscat Appeals Court given in December 2013 against Al Maamari and Al Balushi as well as five others.
The Supreme Court decided to return the case to the Appeals Court of Liwa since the Muscat Appeals Court lacked jurisdiction to hear the case, and due to violation of Article 141 of the Penal Code which reserves the right to refer a case to a different court on the order of Minister of Justice after a request from the prosecutor.

Sources told Gulf News, that the person who referred the case to the Muscat Appeals Court was not the Minister of Justice, which violated the Article 141.

Talib Al Maamari was sentenced to a three-year jail terms for undermining the status of the state and another one-year term for taking part in an illegal gathering and banditry in December 2013.
The court had also slapped Al Maamari with a fine of OMR500 (Dh4,771) along with the legal expenses. The rest of the defendants including Saqr Al Balushi, Saeed Al Muqbali, Talal Al Muqbali, Khamis Al Maamari, Abdul Rahman Al Gufaili and Abdul Majeed Al Gufaili were each sentenced to one-year term.