By Ali Alyami
The attached article states that Mohammed Al-Eissa, the Saudi minister of justice, recently proclaimed at a conference in the Saudi capital of Riyadh that his country’s judicial system is just and accessible to all citizens and residents of the country in a fair and equal manner. He said, “The right to litigation is granted equally to all citizens and residents in the Kingdom.” It’s hard to understand such a claim because the Saudi judicial system is based on the state brand of Islam, Wahhabism, that does not recognize other beliefs or sects of Islam as legitimate. All Saudi courts are staffed by zealot judges who have no training in non-religious rule of law; they denounce civil rule of law and civil society as antitheses to God’s will and Islamic teachings. Women, religious minorities and non-Muslims are condemned before they even enter Saudi courts. In most cases, people are denied legal counsels and can spend months or years in prisons without charges or an appearance in court. Court hearings are closed and standard procedures are non-existent. Sentences are determined on the spot and up to the judge’s mode and religious training. Saudi officials have to stop assuming that their citizens cannot distinguish between facts and fictions.
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