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33-615: The main part of the Saudi Arabian legal system consists of Sharia courts . As of 1992, the system allowed the creation of "specialized courts" for non- Sharia legal issues. The Specialized Criminal Court was created in 2008 for dealing with terrorist suspects . On 26 June 2011, the Specialized Criminal Court started hearing charges against 85 people including "possessing explosives, missiles, military weapons, and chemical materials and smuggling said items into

66-700: A Chadian. Judiciary of Saudi Arabia#Sharia courts [REDACTED] Member State of the Arab League 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 , with its judges and lawyers forming part of the country's religious leadership or ulama . There are also non-Sharia government tribunals which handle disputes relating to specific royal decrees. Final appeal from both Sharia courts and government tribunals

99-497: A POC to be rescinded in February 2021 due to comments he made on migrants in 2007 and 2008 which Amnesty International regarded as "hate speech". Amnesty International announced "a review of its overall approach to the use of the term 'Prisoner of Conscience'", following the controversy surrounding the use of the term to describe Alexei Navalny , stating, "[a]s an initial interim step, our approach has been refined to not exclude

132-527: A lawyer for long-term prisoners, and a protester, Khaled al-Johani , who spoke to BBC Arabic Television at a protest in Riyadh . The court convicted 16 of the human rights activists to sentences of 5–30 years on 22 November 2011. 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. For example, as well as appointing

165-678: A new Minister of Justice, a new chairman of the Supreme Judicial Council was appointed. The outgoing chairman was known to oppose the codification of Sharia. 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. Prisoner of conscience A prisoner of conscience ( POC ) is anyone imprisoned because of their race , sexual orientation , religion , or political views. The term also refers to those who have been imprisoned or persecuted for

198-513: A person from designation as a Prisoner of Conscience solely based on their conduct in the past", and that Navalny has been "re-designate[d]" as a Prisoner of Conscience. Under British law, Amnesty International was classed as a political organisation and therefore excluded from tax-free charity status. To work around this, the "Fund for the Persecuted" was established in 1962 to receive donations to support prisoners and their families. The name

231-521: A police car. He was tried and sentenced to death and appealed to the Specialized Criminal Court in 2014 and 2015. As of 8 October 2015, he awaited ratification of his sentence by King Salman of Saudi Arabia , to be carried out by crucifixion and beheading . Al-Nimr's trial was called unfair by United Nations expert Christof Heyns and Amnesty International , who called for the execution to be stopped, as did French President François Hollande and Prime Minister Manuel Valls . In October 2015,

264-649: A small group of writers, academics and lawyers, including Quaker peace activist Eric Baker , was to identify individual prisoners of conscience around the world and then campaign for their release. In early 1962, the campaign had received enough public support to become a permanent organization and was renamed Amnesty International . In 1995, Amnesty International changed Benenson's original definition to include people "deprived of their liberty... for discriminatory reasons relating to their ethnicity, sexuality, gender, or other identity", and to exclude people who have "advocated hatred". This caused Alexei Navalny 's status as

297-513: Is based on the Qu'ran and centuries old religious treatises with no reference to, for example, modern commercial issues. 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. The capabilities and reactionary nature of the judges have been criticized. The main complaint reportedly made by Saudis privately

330-748: Is death, amputation or stoning when there is a panel of three judges. There are also two courts for the Shia minority in the Eastern Province dealing with family and religious matters. Appellate courts sit in Mecca and Riyadh and review decisions for compliance with Sharia. There are also non-Sharia courts covering specialized areas of law, including the Board of Grievances , the Specialized Criminal Court , created in 2008, and

363-479: 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 Pokémon , telephones that play recorded music, and sending flowers to hospital patients. Saudi judges come from a narrow recruitment pool. By one estimate, 80% are from Al-Qassim province ,

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396-459: Is to the King of Saudi Arabia and all courts and tribunals follow Sharia rules of evidence and procedure. 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

429-545: The Supreme Court . 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. These administrative tribunals, referred to as "committees", deal with specific issues regulated by royal decrees, such as labor and commercial law. The judicial establishment, in

462-504: The nonviolent expression of their conscientiously held beliefs. Most often associated with the human rights organisation Amnesty International , the term was coined by that organisation's founder Peter Benenson in a 28 May 1961 article (" The Forgotten Prisoners ") for London newspaper The Observer . The article " The Forgotten Prisoners " by English lawyer Peter Benenson , published in The Observer on 28 May 1961, launched

495-680: The 16 were convicted in the Specialized Criminal Court of "forming a secret organization, attempting to seize power, incitement against the King, financing terrorism, and money laundering" and given sentences of 5–30 years, to be followed by travel bans. The men appealed their convictions on 22 January 2012. Amnesty International judged the trials to be "grossly unfair", said that there were "allegations of torture and other ill-treatment in pre-trial detention", and that "at least some of those sentenced are prisoners of conscience ". Saudi Civil and Political Rights Association (ACPRA) co-founder Mohammed Saleh al-Bejadi , arrested on 21 March 2011, appeared in

528-519: The Saudi judiciary. The judiciary proper (that is, the body of qadis ) is composed of about 700 judges. 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. The training received from such Sharia law degrees is entirely religious in character and

561-543: The Specialized Criminal Court in August 2011 for "insurrection against the ruler, instigating demonstrations, and speaking with foreign [media] channels." Judge al-'Abd al-Latif prevented al-Bejadi's defence lawyers from attending the August trial session. Mubarak Zu'air, a lawyer supporting long-term prisoners, was arrested on 20 March 2011, a day after an interview on the topic with Minister of Interior , Nayef, Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia . His first court appearance following

594-579: The Specialized Criminal Court sentenced Dawoud al-Marhoon, who had been arrested as a 17-year-old in May 2012 during protests in the Eastern Province , to death by beheading . Al-Marhoon was tortured during his detention and was convicted on the basis of a forced confession . Nimr al-Nimr , Ali al-Nimr's uncle, was sentenced to death by the Specialized Criminal Court and executed on 2 January 2016 together with forty-four other Saudis, an Egyptian and

627-432: The arrest was on 22 December 2011 in the Specialized Criminal Court, on charges of "encumbering the affairs of the ruler, not complying with rules and regulations, attending an unlicensed gathering, spreading sedition, and not obeying religious scholars". He was given no prior notice of the court hearing, so his defence lawyers were unable to attend the session. Khaled al-Johani , a teacher of religious instruction in Riyadh

660-444: The broadest sense, is composed of qadis , who give binding judgements in specific court cases, and muftis and other members of the ulama , who issue generalized but highly influential legal opinions ( fatwas ). The Grand Mufti (currently, 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

693-471: The campaign "Appeal for Amnesty 1961" and first defined a "prisoner of conscience". Any person who is physically restrained (by imprisonment or otherwise) from expressing (in any form of words or symbols) any opinion which he honestly holds and which does not advocate or condone personal violence. We also exclude those people who have conspired with a foreign government to overthrow their own. The primary goal of this year-long campaign, founded by Benenson and

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726-431: The charges and said that she had been kidnapped by two al-Qaeda members with whom she had previously been married. Nine lawyers, academics and other people, including Dr Saud al-Hashimi and Dr Suliman al-Reshoudi , were arrested in February 2007 after trying to set up a human rights organization and starting a petition for political reform. Seven others were arrested for being linked to al-Hashimi. On 22 November 2011,

759-409: 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. The Saudi system of justice has been criticized for being slow, arcane, lacking in some of the safeguards of justice and unable to deal with

792-703: The country for terrorist acts on behalf of al-Qaeda ". The charges included involvement in the Riyadh compound bombings . In September 2011, 38 Saudi citizens and three others suspected of being involved in al-Qaeda appeared in the Specialized Criminal Court on charges including "training in militant camps in Pakistan, fighting in Iraq [with] Abu Musab al-Zarqawi , financing terrorism, transporting weapons, forging documents, inciting militants to fight in Iraq and [harbouring] suspected [terrorists]". An unnamed 45-year-old woman

825-667: The court started trials of 85 people suspected of being involved in Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula and the 2003 Riyadh compound bombings , and in September 2011 another 41 al-Qaeda suspects appeared in the court. In the same year, the court held trial sessions of human rights activists, including Mohammed Saleh al-Bejadi , co-founder of the Saudi Civil and Political Rights Association (ACPRA) and Mubarak Zu'air,

858-524: The location of a demonstration, and communications with the foreign media in a manner that harmed the reputation of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia." A trial date was set for April 2012. Al-Johani is an Amnesty International prisoner of conscience as of February 2012. Ali al-Nimr , who as a teenager participated in the Saudi Arabian protests , was arrested in 2012 after being hit and injured by

891-601: The modern world. In 2007, King Abdullah issued royal decrees with the aim of reforming the judiciary and creating a new court system. The reforms have yet to be implemented in full but, once they are, will include the creation of a Supreme Court, and the transfer of the Board of Grievances' commercial and criminal jurisdictions to a restructured general court system. New specialist first instance courts will be established comprising general, criminal, personal status, commercial and labor courts. The Sharia courts will therefore lose their general jurisdiction to hear all cases and

924-466: The specific prisoners identified by Amnesty International are, in fact, being held on the grounds Amnesty claims; they allege that these prisoners pose genuine threats to the security of their countries. The concept of "prisoners of conscience" became a controversy around Nelson Mandela 's imprisonment in South Africa 1964. He had initially been adopted as a prisoner of conscience in 1962, when he

957-488: The work load of the government's administrative tribunals will be transferred to the new courts. Another important change is the establishment of appeal courts for each province. It has been claimed that the reforms will establish a system for codifying Sharia and incorporating the principle of judicial precedent into court practice. In 2008, the Specialized Criminal Court was created. The court tries suspected terrorists and human rights activists. On 26 June 2011,

990-518: Was imprisoned, without a trial, for nearly one year at ʽUlaysha Prison for having publicly asked for freedoms and democracy in Saudi Arabia on the 11 March 2011 "Day of Rage" during the 2011–2012 Saudi Arabian protests . He made a public statement to a BBC Arabic Television team on a street in Riyadh in the presence of security forces. On 22 February 2012 he was charged in the Specialized Criminal Court with "support of demonstrations, presence at

1023-448: Was later changed to the "Prisoners of Conscience Appeal Fund" and is now a separate and independent charity which provides relief and rehabilitation grants to prisoners of conscience in the UK and around the world. Amnesty International has, since its founding, pressured governments to release those persons it considers to be prisoners of conscience. Governments, conversely, tend to deny that

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1056-594: Was sentenced to five years in jail for inciting a strike of African workers. This was reversed after the Rivonia Trial showed that Mandela now had turned to violently opposing the South African regime. The reversal evolved in 1964 into a worldwide debate and a poll among the members of Amnesty International. The overwhelming majority decided to maintain the basic rule, that prisoners of conscience are those who have not used or advocated violence. The phrase

1089-437: Was tried in the Specialized Criminal Court starting on 31 July 2011. On 29 October 2011 she was sentenced to 15 years' imprisonment for "sheltering people wanted for security related matters and inciting terror acts in the kingdom, possessing two pistols [that she gave to militants] and financing terrorism and terror acts through collecting more than 1,000,000 Saudi riyals ... and sending the money to [al-Qaeda]." The woman denied

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