We, Qaboos bin Said, the Sultan of Oman
after perusal of the Basic Statute of the State issued by Royal Decree 101/96,
and the Criminal Procedures Law issued by Royal Decree 97/99,
and in pursuance of public interest,
have decreed as follows
Article I
The text of the second paragraph of article 221 of the mentioned Criminal Procedures Law is hereby replaced with the following text:
The Criminal Court shall not issue a death sentence except by consensus. Before issuing the judgment, it must send the papers to a committee formed by the State Advisor for Criminal Affairs, the State Advisor for Judicial Affairs, and the Grand Mufti of the Sultanate to express an opinion from a Sharia perspective. If its opinion does not reach the court within sixty days following the receipt of the papers, the court shall rule on the case. If consensus is not achieved, the death sentence must be replaced by the punishment of life imprisonment.
Article II
This decree must be published in the Official Gazette, and comes into force from 1 June 2001.
Issued on: 5 Rabi Al-Akhir 1422
Corresponding to: 27 June 2001
Qaboos bin Said
Sultan of Oman
Published in Official Gazette 698 issued on 1 July 2001.