DUBAI: An Omani court has ruled that inmates at two prisons can have conjugal visits from their spouses in a historic decision, national daily Times of Oman reported.
The ruling, which is said to be a first for the country, will require the Royal Oman Police Service to establish “special places” in the prisons as soon as possible and to “enable the prisoner to exercise the right of legal privacy with their spouse.”
The court ruling went on to add that the prison authorities would be required to observe “the privacy of the meeting… ensuring human dignity.”
Mohammed Ibrahim Al-Zadjali, president of Oman Lawyers Association and a member of Majlis Al Shoura told the newspaper that the ruling was a “step in the right direction” improving the morale of inmates.
“It was immensely important to legalize conjugal visits in Oman, to enable a husband and wife to meet when one of them is serving a prison term. This is a prisoner’s right,” he said.
Conjugal visits allow for a prisoner – male or female – to receive a visit from their spouse in private for several hours, in a room allocated for the purposes of intimacy.
The ruling was made after a couple filed a request to the Oman appeal courts in December, 2017, in which they asked for conjugal visits every three months.
Al-Zadjali told the newspaper it remained to be seen how the order would be implemented in terms of the frequency and duration of the visits.
