Oman to begin a trial of Emirati officers on espionage charges
The Omani authorities began on Monday a trial of UAE officers for espionage, as well as two Omani nationals who were helping the cell, Omani journalist, Muktar Al-Hinai, said through his Twitter account.
Al-Hinai wrote: “I was today in the Criminal Court in Muscat, which examined a security case involved five people from the UAE, including officers, in addition to two Omani civilians. The case started about three months ago after the suspects were arrested, some of them at the end of November. They were investigated and then referred to the public prosecution.”
The Omani journalist added: “I applied to the Sheikh of the Court of Appeal of Muscat today, in which I expressed my desire to attend the meetings, but I did not receive the response, after the meetings were classified as confidential, and only attended by the lawyers of the accused and their relatives.”
Al-Hinai, an Omani journalist and political activist who has always been described as a reformer who does not represent the authorities’ point of view, confirmed the existence of a spy cell the news talked about its discovery by the Omani authorities in November. The cell is led by an Emirati officer named Ben Mushroom al-Kaabi and several of his cousins Distributed between the UAE and Oman.
This cell, which was sent by Abu Dhabi to spy on the Sultanate of Oman, if true, the first in the history of tension in relations between the two countries, as Oman announced in early 2011, “the dismantling of the UAE spy network targeting the regime in Amman and the mechanism of government and military” , And that the members of this cell “were Omanis who hold important positions in the state security and the Royal Office and the armed forces and the Royal Palace.”
The UAE is accused of trying to penetrate into a number Omani areas, most notably the Musandam Governorate of Oman, which is located in the north of the UAE, overlooking the Strait of Hormuz, and bounded from all directions by UAE lands. Emiratis see it as their land and try to recruit its tribes against the Omani authorities, with the naturalization of a large number of these and give them money for their movements against the authorities. The UAE is also accused of seeking to intervene in the succession of Sultan Qaboos, in the absence of a clear successor.
