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On July 1974, Secretary General Martin Ennals sent a cable to the ruler of Oman, Sultan Qabus bin Said bin Taimur, appealing for the commutation of a death sentence, and later in July the then Vice-Chairman of AI's British Section, Sir Osmond Williams, visited the Omani Ambassador in London, Nassir El Bualy, to discuss AI's work in relation to Oman.
In January 1975 Mr Ennals wrote to Sultan Qabus about allegations of torture which had been made regarding Oman, in particular about the alleged torture of Sa'ud al-Marzugi, who was subsequently sentenced to death together with three other men in April 1975. Mr Ennals once again appealed to Sultan Qabus for the repeal of the death sentence.
Saudi Arabia
During the year Amnesty International took up the cases of 36 Saudis, most of whom were allegedly involved in the planned coup attempt in 1969 and who have been detained ever since without charge or trial. In addition, work con- tinued for eight similar cases.
On 25 March 1975, King Faisal ibn Abdul Aziz was assassinated. He was succeeded by his brother, Crown Prince Khalid ibn Abdul Aziz who, on 6 April, ordered the release of all political prisoners in Saudi Arabia and granted an amnesty to all those accused or convicted of political crimes living abroad. AI sent a cable to the new King expressing delight at this news. It was later reported that 62 political prisoners, who were serving prison sentences of between 6-30 years, had been released.
Al is currently trying to ascertain whether there are any other political detainees in Saudi Arabia (the Research Department had previously collected the names of more than 200 people believed to be detained in Saudi Arabia), and whether all adopted prisoners were included in this amnesty.
Syria
In March 1975 a wave of arrests took place in Syria. An estimated total of between 100 to 200 people, both civilians and military, were detained on suspi- cion of forming subversive pro-Iraqi cells. The arrests reflect the acceleration of the long-standing feud between the Syrian and Iraqi factions of the Baath party, and the Syrian fear of increasing Iraqi attempts to overthrow President Hafez Assad's government following the Iraqi-Iranian pact of 6 March.
Amnesty International is investigating the cases of 69 people whose names are known so far, including Marwan Hamawi, director of the Syrian Arab News Agency, and eight lawyers. Al understands that the civilians arrested include a number of teachers, government officials and workers. A further 29 arrests were made in April, and nine in May. Their cases are also under investigation. It has been difficult to establish with any degree of certainty the extent of political imprisonment. Many people believed to be in prison have never been formally charged or brought to trial, and the imprisonment of those believed to have been tried and sentenced has not been officially acknowledged. They are, or are suspected of being, political opponents of the present government and comprise people of a variety of political persuasions. Many are suspected of complicity in a planned coup alleged to have been inspired by the Iraqis in 1970.
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