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Basic law of Saudi Arabia is separated into 9 chapters and consists
of 83 articles1:
Chapter 1: General Principles
Chapter 2: Monarchy
Chapter 3: Features of a Saudi Family
Chapter 4: Economic Principles
Chapter 5: Rights and Duties
Chapter 6: Authorities of the State
Chapter 7: Financial Affairs
Chapter 8: Control Bodies
Chapter 9: General Provisions
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The legal system of Saudi Arabia is based on Sharia, Islamic law derived from
the Qu'ran and the Sunnah (the traditions) of the Islamic prophet Muhammad.
Uniquely in the Muslim world, Sharia has been adopted by Saudi Arabia in an
uncodified form.2
The Sharia court system constitutes the basic judiciary of Saudi Arabia and its
judges and lawyers form part of the ulema, the country's religious leadership.
However, there are also extra-Sharia government tribunals which handle
disputes relating to specific royal decrees. Final appeal from both Sharia
courts and government tribunals is to the King and all courts and tribunals
follow Sharia rules of evidence and procedure. 2
The Sharia courts have general jurisdiction over most civil and criminal cases.
At present there are two types of courts of first instance: general courts and
summary courts dealing with lesser cases. Cases are adjudicated by single
judges, except criminal cases if the potential sentence is death, amputation or
stoning when there is a panel of three judges. 2
The judicial establishment is composed of qadis, who give binding
judgements in specific court cases, and muftis and other members of the
ulema, who issue generalised but highly influential legal opinions (fatwas). 2
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The Grand Mufti, the highest religious authority in the country, is the most
senior member of the judicial establishment, and his opinions are highly
influential among the Saudi judiciary. The judiciary proper (that is, the body
of qadis) is composed of about 700 judges. 2
Criminal law is governed by Sharia and comprises three categories: hudud
(fixed Quranic punishments for specific crimes), Qisas (eye-for-an-eye
retaliatory punishments), and Tazir, a general category. Hudud crimes are the
most serious and include theft, robbery, blasphemy, apostasy, adultery,
sodomy and fornication. Qisas crimes include murder or any crime involving
bodily harm. Tazir represents most cases, many of which are defined by
national regulations such as bribery, trafficking, and drug abuse. The most
common punishment for a Tazir offence is lashing. 2
A conviction requires proof in one of three ways. The first is an uncoerced
confession. Alternatively, the testimony of two male witnesses can convict
(four in the case of adultery), unless it is a hudud crime, in which case a
confession is also required. Women's evidence normally carries half the
weight of men in Sharia courts, however in criminal trials women's testimony
is not allowed at all. Testimony from non-Muslims or Muslims whose
doctrines are considered unacceptable (for example, Shia) may be discounted.
Lastly, an affirmation or denial by oath can be required. Giving an oath is
taken particularly seriously in a religious society such as Saudi Arabia's, and a
refusal to take an oath will be taken as an admission of guilt resulting in
conviction. 2
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The death penalty can be imposed for a wide range of offences including
murder, rape, armed robbery, repeated drug use, apostasy, adultery,
witchcraft and sorcery and can be carried out by beheading with a sword,
stoning or firing squad, followed by crucifixion. 2
Repeated theft can be punishable by amputation of the right hand and
aggravated theft by the cross-amputation of a hand and a foot. 2
Homosexual acts are punishable by flogging, imprisonment or death.
Lashings are a common form of punishment and are often imposed for
offences against religion and public morality such as drinking alcohol and
neglect of prayer and fasting obligations. 2
People arrested are often not informed of the crime of which they are
accused or given access to a lawyer and are subject to abusive treatment
and torture if they do not confess. At trial, there is a presumption of guilt
and the accused is often unable to examine witnesses and evidence or
present a legal defense. Most trials are held in secret. 2
• The Mutaween (plural: Mutawwa) are a government authorized
“religious police force” that are tasked with enforcing varied
interpretations of Sharia law. The concept of the Mutawwa
originated from Wahhabis in Saudi Arabia.
• Their ‘job’ is to prevent un-Islamic activities ranging from
enforcing strict dress code, preventing unmarried couples from
socializing to ensuring Muslims preform prayers.
• Mutawwa is Arabic for volunteer and in the Muslim world refers
to someone who spreads the word of Islam on his own accord.
• The Mutawwa are quite controversial due to their highly
unorthodox methods of enforcing Sharia law and their general
validity and integrity. Public humiliation has been their main
weapon, using methods such as flogging, forcibly cutting long
hair and arresting and harassing teenage boys.
• The Mutawwa are seen with much negativity in Saudi
Arabia from the majority but being a monarchy there is no
democratic say in anything.
• Rumors from various sources (including an investigation
from a member of the royal family) state that the
Mutawwa members comprise of ex convicts whose only
option to escape prison was memorize the Quran.
• The Mutawwa are seen by few as a religious force that
maintains peace and is there for the good of the
community.
• An incident involving a fire in an all girls school in Mecca
in 2002, destroyed the Mutaween’s reputation. It is
reported that the Mutawwa refused the girls escaping the
fire from leaving the campus due to not covering
properly. This resulted in many students dying and public
outrage.
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345 executions reported between 2007 and 2010, more than twice as much
as the US. Though the crime rate in the US is much higher than Saudi
Arabia, the legal system in the latter supports the use of capital
punishment while the former varies from state to state. 3 4
A 2002 survey showed 84, 599 crimes reported in Saudi Arabia while
11,877,218 were reported in the United States. The high amount of
executions and population differences contribute to the statistics. Saudi
has less than half of the US population. 5.2% of the Saudi population is
unemployed while 5.8% of the American population is unemployed. 5 6
Illegal immigration is a big problem in both countries with Saudi Arabia
and the US ranking 5th and 1st respectively in immigrant population. 7
There had been a surge in extremist activity and two notable terrorist
attacks in 2001 after the 9/11 terrorist attacks in the US but ceased the
following years.
• According to the Eighth United Nations Survey on Crime Trends and the
Operations of Criminal Justice Systems, Saudi Arabia has 28,612 prisoners
as of 2002 and there are 110.0 prisoners per 100,000 people. 8
• 25% of the Saudi population are attributed to immigrants. This is around
6,361,000 people. 50.9% of the prisoners are foreign national. 9 10
•
There is no form of tax in Saudi Arabia so the prisons are not tax funded.
• There is an unknown number of political prisoners but they are still
present. Political parties are banned in the country.
• Prisoners are punished rather than rehabilitated to prevent further crimes
and show dominance.
• There is said to be overcrowding in Saudi jails and drugs are rampant.
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Prisoners have little rights and are often abused by the police to extract
confessions.
False imprisonment is an issue since the War on Terror began and
expatriates have been arrested and detained under false allegations.
Authorities need to control the happenings inside prison to avoid illegal
activities and show more concern towards foreigners and immigrants.
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Rape Case in Qatif, Saudi Arabia, 2006. 19 year old woman and her male
friend raped by seven assailants. 11
Punishment: 1-4 years prison for four of the men plus 80-1000 lashes. The girl
and the male friend also received 90 lashes. Remaining three awaiting trial. 11
The victim received punishments for being together with a male who she was
not married to and vice versa. 11
Not much information has been released on the trial.
The impact of this crime is bigger than it seems. The injustice shown against
the rape victims has caused uproar around the world but the rape case itself
has scarred the community. First off, the girl comes from an ultra conservative
part of an already ultra conservative country so when faced with a situation
regarding sexual violence there is major turmoil. Another problem is that the
relatively low crime rate in Saudi Arabia has left the nation innocent towards
heinous acts of crime so when something like this comes along it sparks much
paranoia. The families of the victims will live in shame and embarrassment
and will further isolate them to avoid ridicule from the community. The
criminals will become pariahs and will almost never be able join mainstream
society. This will probably be the same case for the victims.
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Seeking to explore the reason or motives behind the crime, there is one
very common answer among locals, segregation. Obviously that is not the
only reason but the lack of contact with the opposite sex can lead to
sexual violence like this case.
The courts have been called into question for their verdict on the case but
of course being an absolute monarchy there is little hope for reform.
The trial is one of the few that has been highlighted as normally
convictions such as these are kept secret to avoid distressing the families
involved and to keep the conservative society stable.
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"The Basic Law." - SAMIRAD (Saudi Arabia Market Information Resource). N.p.,
n.d. Web. 10 June 2012. <http://saudinf.com/main/c541.htm>.
"Capital Punishment in Saudi Arabia." Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, 06 Sept.
2012. Web. 11 June 2012.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Capital_punishment_in_Saudi_Arabia>.
"Crime Stats: Saudi Arabia vs United States." NationMaster.com. NationMaster,
n.d. Web. 10 June 2012. <http://www.nationmaster.com/compare/SaudiArabia/United-States/Crime>.
"Executions in the United States." Death Penalty Information Center. N.p., n.d.
Web. 10 June 2012. <http://www.deathpenaltyinfo.org/executions-united-states>.
Factbook. "People Stats: Saudi Arabia vs United States." NationMaster.com.
NationMaster, n.d. Web. 10 June 2012.
<http://www.nationmaster.com/compare/Saudi-Arabia/United-States/People>.
"Labor Stats: Saudi Arabia vs United States." NationMaster.com. NationMaster,
n.d. Web. 10 June 2012. <http://www.nationmaster.com/compare/SaudiArabia/United-States/Labor>.
"Legal System of Saudi Arabia." Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia. Wikimedia
Foundation, n.d. Web. 10 June 2012.
<en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Legal_system_of_Saudi_Arabia>.
• Persons, Trafficking In. "Saudi Crime Statistics - Compared to Other
Countries." NationMaster.com. NationMaster, n.d. Web. 10 June 2012.
<http://www.nationmaster.com/country/sa-saudi-arabia/cri-crime>.
• "Rape Case Calls Saudi Legal System into Question." MSNBC. Associated
Press, n.d. Web. 10 June 2012.
<http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/15836746/ns/world_newsmideast_n_africa/t/rape-case-calls-saudi-legal-systemquestion/#.T9Rqv1IeX32>.
• Refugees. "Immigration Stats: Saudi Arabia vs United States."
NationMaster.com. NationMaster, n.d. Web. 10 June 2012.
<http://www.nationmaster.com/compare/Saudi-Arabia/UnitedStates/Immigration>.