Alcohol in Oman

Oman's consultative assembly has proposed a full ban on alcoholic beverages:

The legislative and legal committee of Oman’s elected Shura Council has approved a proposal for an amendment of two articles in the country’s penal code aiming to criminalise the trade and consumption of alcohol in the sultanate.

The approval came after a meeting of the committee last Thursday, chaired by member of the committee Nasser Bin Khamis Al Khamisi, Omani daily Al Shabiba reported. The resulting report will now be referred to the Shura Council for a vote. If passed, it will be referred to the Council of Ministers, the cabinet...

The debate on the banning on alcohol has been part of public discourse, but has picked up steam in recent years. The sultanate’s Grand Mufti Shaikh Ahmad Bin Hamad Al Khalili has also publicly expressed support for the move, to which little if any opposition has been voiced from the public, government officials or the Shura Council...

In May 2012, in a heated Shura Council session that has been widely circulated on mobile phones, Salim Bin Abdullah Al Aufi, a member from the province of Izki, confronted the Minister of Regional Municipalities and Water Resources, Ahmad Bin Abdullah Al Shehhi, about the government’s perceived leniency towards the consumption and sale of alcohol in the country.