Internal political situation

This file relates to the internal political situation in Muscat and Oman. It covers correspondence on:

• The alleged travel restrictions imposed on families of rebel leaders in Muscat and Oman. It includes a letter from Himyar Bin Sulaiman to the UN Secretary-General (201)
• A meeting of the Consultative Council of the Imamate of Oman, 12 September 1961 (202)
• A lecture by two Omani students from Cairo reported by the Moroccan daily Al Tahrir (203)
• The release of twelve Omani political prisoners on 31 August and 1 September 1961. It includes a list of the twelve and a list of sixteen prisoners remaining at Al Jalali Fort; and a list of six prisoners held in Jalali on charges of mine laying and arms smuggling (204, 212)
• A letter from the Ruler of Qatar, Sheikh Ahmad Bin Ali Al Thani to the Sultan of Muscat and Oman Sultan Saeed Bin Taimur,declining to extradite Abdulla Bin Humaid Al Ghassani and Abdulla Bin Zahir Al Uthmani without a complete investigation. It includes the Arabic letter by Sheikh Ahmad to Sultan Saeed, dated 10 September 1961; and a letter by the Political Resident in the Persian Gulf W H T Luce to Sheikh Ahmad; a report by the Political Agent J C Moberly on Sheikh Ahmad's attitude to the Omani rebels; a brief for the Lord Privy Seal Edward Heath on the rebels and the Ruler of Qatar. It includes a conversation between Heath and the Sultan at the Foreign Office, 20 September 1961 (205-206, 208-209)
• A suggestion for the publication of a booklet based on the paper 'Muscat and Oman' to refute arguments in the Arab Information Centre's booklet 'The Question of Oman'. It includes the paper 'Muscat and Oman' prepared primarily for the UK Mission to the UN (207)
• The Sultan's views on the Treaty of Sib [Treaty of Seeb] concluded by his father Taimur Bin Faisal. It includes a handwritten note by the Sultan passed on to A R Walmsley in London; the Arabic Treaty signed by Taimur Bin Faisal and Mohammad Bin Ahmad on 28 September 1920, and a copy signed by Sheikh Isa Bin Saleh and others on 25 September 1920; the possible inclusion of both versions of the Treaty in an updated edition of J B Kelly's 'Sultanate and Imamate in Oman' previously published by Chatham House in 1959 (210-211, 218)
• A message from Abdulla Al Harithi cousin of Sheikh Saleh Bin Isa Al Harithi; the possibility of delivering a message to Sheikh Saleh through Abdulla Al Harithi at Beirut; a conversation between Sheikh Abdulla Al Harithi and HM Chargé d'Affaires A J Edden; and the identities of the landowner and merchant Sheikh Abdulla Bin Sulaiman Al Harithi of Zanzibar and Abdulla Bin Hamad Bin Sulaiman Al Harithi apprehended in Dubai (213, 215-216, 220)
• The possible reconciliation of Sheikh Sulaiman Bin Himyar Al Nabhani and Sultan Saeed; and the call by Sulaiman Bin Himyar at the US Embassy in Cairo and his statements (214, 219)
• The Imamate's support for President Gamal Abdul Nasser's policy toward Syria (217).