Saudi Arabia’s crown prince, Mohammed bin Salman, attends the 41st Gulf Cooperation Council Summit in Al-Ula, Saudi Arabia, on January 5, 2021.
Royal Council of Saudi Arabia | Anadolu Agency | Getty Images
Saudi Arabia has announced further judicial reforms, putting the kingdom on the path of codified law – a big step, considering that the deeply conservative country does not have a codified legal system to accompany Sharia, or Islamic law, which is currently in place.
“The Personal Status Law, the Civil Transactions Law, the Penal Code for Discretionary Sanctions and the Evidence Law represent a new wave of judicial reforms in the Kingdom,” said Saudi state news agency SPA quoting Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman on Monday afternoon night.
The reforms, said the Crown Prince, “will help predict judicial decisions, increase the level of integrity and efficiency of judicial institutions and contribute to increasing the reliability of control procedures and mechanisms.” The new laws will be announced throughout 2021, according to its statement.
The news is the latest in a series of dramatic economic and social reforms launched by the 35-year-old Crown Prince to modernize the kingdom. It fits into its Vision 2030 agenda, which aims to diversify the economy away from oil and attract foreign talent and investment to the kingdom, and comes when Saudi Arabia presents itself as a destination for international business headquarters.
“This is an important step on the road to global best practices that give companies the confidence to invest,” Tarek Fadlallah, CEO of Nomura Asset Management for the Middle East, told CNBC on Tuesday.
Failure to have a codified legal system often resulted in inconsistency in court decisions and lengthy and lengthy litigation procedures. The announcement made specific mention of women in Saudi Arabia, who have long had a lower status than men in terms of legal and economic rights, and which the Crown Prince described as being particularly handicapped by the lack of written laws on certain issues.
“Discrepancies in court decisions have led to a lack of clarity in the rules governing incidents and practices and have hurt many, especially women,” said Bin Salman, citing the SPA.
The rights of women in the kingdom – although they have improved in some areas such as leadership, employment and freedom of movement in recent years – are still the main target of criticism from human rights groups and some foreign governments. Several Saudi women activists remain in prison and say they are being tortured, accusations that the Saudi state denies.
Ali Shihabi, a Saudi analyst close to the kingdom’s royal court, tweeted about the reforms on Monday night, describing the news as “an important step in legal reform and recognizing that the Saudi legal system has a way to go to achieve international standards and that the leadership recognizes the urgency and importance of such reform. ”
“Highlighting its impact on women is particularly interesting,” added Shihabi.
The Crown Prince described the current legal system as “painful for many individuals and families, especially women, allowing some to escape their responsibilities. This will not happen again when these laws are enacted in accordance with laws and legislative procedures,” he said. The statement did not outline further details on what specific practices and penalties would be changed.
His statement added that the forthcoming legal reforms “will resolve the lack of clarity in the rules that govern … prolonged litigation that is not based on established legal provisions and the absence of a clear legal framework for individuals and businesses”.