According to the decision, the competent municipality, in coordination with the Ministry of Housing and Urban Planning (MUHP), is responsible for assigning the places designated to set up cemeteries, in addition to, establishing, fencing, managing, and preserving their sanctity.
As per the conditions underlined by the decision, it is not permissible to establish, modify, or repair cemeteries without a license from the competent municipality.
When establishing cemeteries, the competent municipality must ensure that cemeteries are far from the urban space or the future extension of residential or commercial residential areas or wadi streams, and the grave area should range between 50 m2 and 100 m2.
It should be far from waste dumping sites or groundwater sources.
The fencing walls should be no less than (2.5 meters) high.
The municipality will allocate specific paths for pedestrians to avoid walking over graves.
The cemetery zone should be equipped with electricity, water, and parking lots.
For unidentified people, amputated organs or fetuses, or those who died from infectious or epidemic diseases, the municipality has to dedicate specific graves for such cases.
It is not permissible to erect any building inside the graves, designate graves, or erect any additions to them. It is permissible to level (raise) the grave in soft places so that it does not exceed an inch, which ranges between 20 cm and 25 cm.
When burying the dead in cemeteries, the following must be adhered to:
Burying an amputated organ of a human body should be carried out after obtaining a medical permit from the competent authority.
Burying a body due to epidemic diseases must be avoidable unless there is a permit from the Ministry of Health and under its supervision.
Not to bury bodies of non-Muslims in public cemeteries.
The height of the grave in private cemeteries must not exceed half the height of the cemetery wall
It is impermissible to open the grave to re-examine the body of the deceased or transfer his remains to another cemetery or outside the Sultanate of Oman unless the doer obtains a permit from the Royal Oman Police or based on a judicial ruling.
Meanwhile, no specific decision had previously been issued to organize cemeteries, and their management was entrusted to municipalities.
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