Extraditions between Germany and the Sultanate of Oman

German citizens are protected against extradition by the German Basic Law, cf. Art. 16 II GG. Exceptionally, German citizens may be extradited to EU member states or international courts. The Sultanate of Oman is not a member of the EU, so Germany does not extradite its nationals there as a matter of principle.

Non-German EU citizens could be extradited to Oman from Germany. The ECJ ruled that by differentiating between its own and other EU citizens, neither the general prohibition of discrimination under Article 18 TFEU nor the free movement of persons within the EU under Article 21 TFEU is violated. The Member State to which the person concerned belongs has a priority right to transfer and must therefore be informed before extraditions.

According to the IRG, every non-German person can, in principle, be extradited to the country where they have committed a punishable act, cf. Section 2 III IRG.

For extradition to be lawful, the act committed must also be punishable in Germany and by a maximum of at least one year’s imprisonment, according to Section 3 IRG.

A request is rejected as inadmissible if the motives are political, personal or military, cf. Sections 6 and 7 IRG. If the person concerned is subjected to aggravated treatment due to political or personal characteristics, an extradition request is also to be rejected as inadmissible.

After transfer, the person concerned may only be punished for the offences mentioned in the request by the principle of speciality in Section 11 IRG. For possible further extradition, transfer or deportation to a third state, the requesting state must obtain the consent of the requested state.

If the person concerned is threatened with the death penalty in the requesting state, extradition may not take place under Section 8 IRG. In Oman, the death penalty is applied as a legal remedy. However, there have been no official reports of executions in recent years.

According to Art. 3 ECHR, no one may be subjected to torture or other inhuman or degrading treatment. Accordingly, if the person concerned is threatened with such ill-treatment, they may not be extradited.

As the law in Oman is aligned with Sharia law, there are also legal remedies for some acts that are considered torture or ill-treatment. Overall, human rights are interpreted in the light of Sharia law and are therefore not always respected.

With regard to extraditions, it must be noted that conditions in Oman continue to improve. Oman is a rather modern state, especially compared to other states characterised by Sharia law. For example, women’s suffrage was fully introduced in 2003. Homosexuality is still prosecuted under criminal law, but to a comparatively mild extent, with a maximum three-year prison sentence.