[meteorite-list] Fwd: To all interested Parties

[Martin Altmann]

Hiho,

that, what is positive on that homepage, is that it settles all the rumours
about that incident,
but the conclusions drawn, in my opinion at least, are somewhat strange.
My regret is to John Blennert, who obviously blames with this homepage a
whole country for him having been unable to inform himself accurately before
he was going there.
To me it seems like travelling to a tropical country, returning ill from
malaria and afterwards blaming a whole nation, because one didn't care for a
prophylaxis.

Some points:

Can't see, why normal travellers, who will visit Oman for tourism, should
ever come in a situation like you was in, to get in conflict with written or
unwritten laws, as they are going there not for hunting minerals, rocks,
meteorites.

In my humble opinion, I'd say, if you were able to organize and to plan the
logistics of that trip, a part of these preparations should have comprised
to check, whether there are any legal obstacles to hunt or to remove
meteorites from there.
At those times, it already was known by several hunters, that a license
for hunting and a permission for export is necessary, some already were
avoiding Oman, because
of the difficulties to get one.
That other hunters were not prosecuted, is no argument. You should have
spoken to them before.

To rely on a 4 years old book (Guba: Stone Treasures) regarding the actual
laws is naive.
A very important sentence I find on the top of your homepage:
"Do not trust tourist information about Oman that you may have received from
official sources."
In reading the rest of your site, I suggest, that you should modify it to
"...official US-sources".
You enquired at the American embassy in Muscat, they gave you the
information, that they are "unaware" of any laws restricting rock hunting or
exporting. I recommend for retrieving your property, which was confiscated
by the Omani, to file a lawsuit against them.
As at the US-embassy they were obviously not informed about the laws in Oman
("unaware" means not, that there do not exist any laws, only that they don't
know it) it would have been necessary to enquire an embassy of Oman or even
better to address to the Ministry of Commerce and Industry in Muscat,
whether a permission for mineral prospection and exportation is necessary
and how to apply for.

As undelightful the treatment you had to experience there has been and as
glad we are, that you're all back at good health, to blame the whole Omani
people for your insufficient preparations for the trip and you incomplete
knowledge,
is ridicolous.

"Tourists.....without being charged with any crime or misdemeanor."
Besides the incorrect treatment, that you were not allowed to contact your
consulates, that you were not told the reasons for your arrest ect.
is this assertion contradictory to that, what one can read on your homepage
in the official Omani document, you present on your site, where it's said,
that you violated those laws:  Article 279 of the Penal Code; articles
(3/2 - 10/1 - 21/A) of Law 27 of 2003 on mining; articles (9/1 - 30 - 54) of
law 30 of 2002 on regulation of communications.
The consequences you had to suffer, happened according:  Article (101) of
the Criminal Procedures Law, Article (29) of the Foreigners Residence Law,
Article (125) of the same mentioned law.
I guess those laws exist somewhere in written form. That you didn't know
them before, is not the fault of the Omani officials. Whether your case was
correctly subdued under this laws, is another question,
but be assured, that you'll get also problems in democratic countries, let's
say - if you remove a column from the Akropolis in Athens, it won't help you
neither, if you'll state, that you didn't found in a book any hint, that it
might be illegal, nor that your embassy was "unaware" about that being a not
so good idea.

- terrorism. I can't find any clue on your webpage, that could lead someone
to the opinion, Oman could be a terroristic country.

John, your site is very helpful for those, who planned a hunting trip to
Oman and can now avoid to come into similar troubles, you were in.
Therefore my thanks,
but to claim that tourist travels to Oman are extremely dangerous,
is so silly like it would be to cry for a boycot for travels to U.S. as it's
to dangerous, because the human rights are not respected in Guantanamo or
that
underage and mentally ill persons were sentenced to death.

My 2 buckleboos.
Martin



----- Original Message ----- 
From: "JKGwilliam" <h3chondrite at cox.net>
To: <meteorite-list at meteoritecentral.com>
Sent: Thursday, June 23, 2005 2:57 AM
Subject: [meteorite-list] Fwd: To all interested Parties


> Hello List members,
> My good friend John Blennert has asked me to post the following to the
List
> as he has been unable to post it successfully himself.  Any comments
should
> be directed to John Blennert at:
>
> goldmaster at gci-net.com
>
> Best,
> JKGwilliam
>
> >From: "John Blennert" <goldmaster at gci-net.com>
> >To: "John K. Gwilliam" <jkg2 at cox.net>
> >Subject: To all interested Parties
> >Date: Wed, 22 Jun 2005 17:07:15 -0700
> >X-Mailer: Microsoft Outlook Express 6.00.2900.2180
> >
> >Hi Johnny Q
> >
> >I again cannot post on the list ?? Can you forward this letter with links
> >to the meteorite list !! Please don't change anything !!
> >Thanks
> >John
> >
> >To All Interested Parties
> >
> >
> >
> >I would like to announce the first of several web pages that is up and
> >running. The address is www.dontvisitoman.com . We still have work to do
> >on it to get the translators fully functioning and many more
> >countries/languages to add. I also have lots of work to do on priority
> >placement of certain key words (tourist, tourism, travel, traveling,
> >sights, sightseeing, bird watching, diving, fishing, business, boating,
> >hotels, off road, car rentals, swimming and of course rock hunting and
> >geology in conjunction with Oman) on the various internet search engines.
> >If anyone has any additional ideas as to where to link this sight for
> >maximum tourist exposure I would welcome any and all suggestions!! I take
> >full responsibility for this web sights accuracy and content. We kept
> >meticulous logs of the daily events while being detained in Oman. Only
the
> >pertinent information was used to develop this page and it's all 100%
> >true. There was also a $50,000.00 US payoff that was paid to an Omani
> >government official to release us from prison that was reported. But I
> >have no first hand knowledge of that since it didn't originate in the US.
> >My only regret is to the honest and friendly citizens of Oman that will
be
> >affected by the loss of tourist dollars caused by this sight and the
other
> >web sights I'm working on. I welcome any and all comments good, bad or
> >indifferent and suggestions and can be reached through email
> >at   goldmaster at gci-net.com . Please take this travel warning serious
this
> >is not meant as a joke or to be humorous.
> >
> >It's great to be home!!
> >
> >Warmest Regards
> >
> >John B.
>
>
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