Deposed Sultan In London Hospital

Press, Volume CX, Issue 32360, 28 July 1970, Page 17

Deposed Sultan In London Hospital

(N.Z.P.A.-Reuter—Copyright)

LONDON, July 27.

Said Bin Taimur, the deposed Sultan of Muscat and Oman, was today being guarded by British security men as he recovered from bullet wounds in a private hospital in London.

The 60-year-old sultan, described by British newspapers as the last of the medieval - style Gulf rulers, arrived in England by- air yesterday after receiving the wounds in last Thursday’s coup. His son, 28-year-old Qabas Bin Said has instaled himself as the new sultan.

the country’s riches to meet the people’s needs." i Said Bin Taimur has often i been criticised for refusing I to use oil revenues of about i £3sm a year for social and f economical development. ] Details of the coup are still vague and conflicting. ,

Newspapers said that the coup was likely to be welcomed by the British Government, which felt the take-over would almost certainly increase stability in Muscat and Oman. One commentator suggested today that British Foreign Office officials were discreetly tossing their hats into the air with delight after receiving news of the coup. Muscat and Oman has had special treaty relations with Britain for the last 150 years. There is no defence treaty, although Britain now has 40 officers and seven other-ranks on loan to the sultanate’s Armed Forces. News of the coup is sparse because the former sultan disliked all but a few newspapermen and for some time has banned their entry to the sultanate. He also stamped out newspapers, magazines, local radio and television. Trousers Not Liked Another of the sultan’s dislikes was trousers—he forbade his subjects to wear them in public. Football, electricity, spectacles, imported medicines and the consumption of food in public were also banned. The sultan himself lived the life of a recluse in a vast palace at Ssalalah, 600 miles south of the capital, Muscat. His personal bodyguard of African-descended slaves was forbidden all contact with the local population. Oxord Educated Qabas, the new ruler, was educated at Oxford University and later trained as an officer at the Sandhurst Army College. It is believed that Qabas will form a democratic government with the former sultan’s brother, Tareq Bin Taimour, as Prime Minister. For 10 years Tareq has been exiled in Dubai awaiting his brother's demise.

Qabas was quoted as saying in a report from Muscat yesterday that he had overthrown his father because of his "inability to make use of