Judiciary of Saudi Arabia

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The judiciary of Saudi Arabia is a branch of the

government of Saudi Arabia that interprets and applies the laws of Saudi Arabia. The legal system is based on the Islamic code of Sharia,[1]: 111  with its judges and lawyers forming part of the country's religious leadership or ulama.[1]: 110  [2] There are also non-Sharia government tribunals which handle disputes relating to specific royal decrees.[1]: 111  Final appeal from both Sharia courts and government tribunals is to the King of Saudi Arabia and all courts and tribunals follow Sharia rules of evidence and procedure.[3]

Sharia courts

The Sharia courts have general jurisdiction over most civil and criminal cases.[4]: 174  At present, there are two types of courts of first instance: general courts and summary courts dealing with lesser cases.[4]: 159  Cases are adjudicated by single judges,[4]: 159  except criminal cases if the potential sentence is death, amputation or stoning when there is a panel of three judges.[4]: 160  There are also two courts for the Shia minority in the Eastern Province dealing with family and religious matters.[5] Appellate courts sit in Mecca and Riyadh and review decisions for compliance with Sharia.[4]: 160 

Non-Sharia tribunals

There are also non-Sharia courts covering specialized areas of law, including the Board of Grievances,[6]: 23  the Specialized Criminal Court, created in 2008,[7] and the Supreme Court.[8][9] The Board of Grievances was originally created to deal with complaints against the government, but also gained jurisdiction over commercial and some criminal cases, such as bribery and forgery, and acts as a court of appeal for a number of non-Sharia government tribunals.[4]: 161  These administrative tribunals, referred to as "committees", deal with specific issues regulated by royal decrees, such as labor and commercial law.[4]: 146 

Judges

Walid bin Mohammed Al Samani, current Justice Minister since 2015

The judicial establishment, in the broadest sense, is composed of

Abdul-Aziz Al ash-Sheikh) is the most senior member of the judicial establishment as well as being the highest religious authority in the country; his opinions are highly influential among the Saudi judiciary.[6]: 28–30  The judiciary proper (that is, the body of qadis) is composed of about 700 judges.[11]

Qadis generally have degrees in Sharia law from an Islamic university recognized by the Saudi government with, in many cases, a post-graduate qualification from the Institute of Higher Judiciary in Riyadh.[10]: 81  The training received from such Sharia law degrees is entirely religious in character and is based on the Qu'ran and centuries old religious treatises with no reference to, for example, modern commercial issues.[6]: 187  Although most judges have been educated and appointed under the current system, some of the older judges received the traditional qadi's training of years of instruction by a religious mentor in a mosque.[10]: 81 

The capabilities and reactionary nature of the judges have been criticized. The main complaint reportedly made by Saudis privately is that judges, who have wide discretion in interpreting the Sharia, have no knowledge, and are often contemptuous, of the modern world. Reported examples of judges' attitudes include rulings banning such things as the children's game

Al-Qassim province, the conservative religious heartland of Saudi Arabia in the center of the country. Senior judges will only allow like-minded graduates of select religious institutes to join the judiciary and will remove judges that stray away from rigidly conservative judgments.[12]

Reform and development

King Abdullah has ordered a number of reforms of the judiciary, since ascending the throne

The Saudi system of justice has been criticized[by whom?] for being slow, arcane,[8] lacking in some of the safeguards of justice and unable to deal with the modern world.[13] In 2007, King Abdullah issued royal decrees with the aim of reforming the judiciary and creating a new court system.[4]: 160  The reforms have yet to be implemented in full but, once they are, will include the creation of a Supreme Court,[4]: 160  and the transfer of the Board of Grievances' commercial and criminal jurisdictions to a restructured general court system.[4]: 160  New specialist first instance courts will be established comprising general, criminal, personal status, commercial and labor courts.[4]: 160  The Sharia courts will therefore lose their general jurisdiction to hear all cases and the work load of the government's administrative tribunals will be transferred to the new courts.[4]: 160  Another important change is the establishment of appeal courts for each province.[4]: 160  It has been claimed that the reforms will establish a system for codifying Sharia and incorporating the principle of judicial precedent into court practice.[8]

In 2008, the

protest in Riyadh.[18][19][20] The court convicted 16 of the human rights activists to sentences of 5–30 years on 22 November 2011.[15]

In 2009, the King made a number of significant changes to the judiciary's personnel at the most senior level by bringing in a younger generation.[8] For example, as well as appointing a new Minister of Justice, a new chairman of the Supreme Judicial Council was appointed.[8] The outgoing chairman was known to oppose the codification of Sharia.[8] The king also appointed a new head of the Board of Grievances and Abdulrahman Al Kelya as the first chief justice of the new Supreme Court.[8][9]

See also

References

  1. ^
    ISBN 978-0-8156-2774-6
    .
  2. ISBN 978-0-8184-0326-2
    .
  3. ISBN 978-1-4303-1914-6
    .
  4. ^
    ISBN 978-90-8728-057-4
    .
  5. ISBN 978-0-231-70040-5
    .
  6. ^
    ISBN 9781409403777
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  7. ^ a b c "Saudi Arabia: Renewed Protests Defy Ban". Human Rights Watch. 2011-12-30. Archived from the original on 2012-02-09. Retrieved 2012-02-24.
  8. ^ a b c d e f g "Tentative steps in Saudi Arabia: The king of Saudi Arabia shows some reformist credentials". The Economist. 17 February 2009. Retrieved 9 July 2011.
  9. ^
    ISBN 978-1-4419-59874
    . Retrieved 19 September 2012.
  10. ^
    ISBN 978-90-04-11062-5
    .
  11. ISBN 978-0313351334
    . Retrieved 20 May 2012.
  12. ^ "Saudi Arabian justice: Cruel, or just unusual?". The Economist. 14 June 2001. Retrieved 14 July 2011.
  13. ^ "Support for shake-up of Saudi justice system". The Financial Times. 4 October 2007. Retrieved 10 July 2011.
  14. ^ a b "Specialized criminal court begins hearings against 85 people accused of terrorism". Royal Embassy of Saudi Arabia in Washington, DC. 2011. Archived from the original on 2012-06-01. Retrieved 2012-02-24.
  15. ^ a b "Saudi Arabia: Lengthy sentences for reformists a worrying development". Amnesty International. 2011-11-23. Archived from the original on 2012-03-02. Retrieved 2012-02-24.
  16. ^ a b "World Report 2012: Saudi Arabia". Human Rights Watch. 2012. Archived from the original on 2012-01-26. Retrieved 2012-02-24.
  17. ^ Glen Carey (2011-09-19). "Saudi Court Tries Militants for Planning Attacks on U.S. Troops". Bloomberg L.P. Archived from the original on 2013-11-26. Retrieved 2012-02-24.
  18. ^ Dana Kennedy (2011-04-08). "Imprisoned Father of Autistic Boy Called "the Bravest Man in Saudi Arabia"". AOL News. Archived from the original on 2011-06-11. Retrieved 2011-06-06.
  19. ^ Michael Buchanan (2011-05-24). "Saudi Arabia: Calls for political reform muted". BBC. Archived from the original on 2011-06-10. Retrieved 2011-06-06.
  20. ^ "Saudi Arabia: Trial of Riyadh protester 'utterly unwarranted'". Amnesty International. 2012-02-22. Archived from the original on 2012-02-23. Retrieved 2012-02-24.
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