Prince Muhammad bin Salman was asked, during a television interview, about the project to develop the laws of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, which is one of the topics that the Crown Prince has been interested in for some time, and his answer was that this project had adopted the best of international experiences, especially with regard to transparency and clarity, and the prevention of randomness. Conflict in judicial rulings, so that there are similar rulings when the issues are similar.
The Crown Prince, who is an expert jurist, made it clear that the Kingdom is not in the process of reinventing the wheel, but rather intends to benefit from successful international experiences, while not violating the explicit Qur’an and the authentic Sunnah, achieving the public interest, preserving the security and interests of the citizen, and enhancing contribution to development, and this criterion The latter is especially important for the implementation of Vision 2030, which the emir is closely following.
And for those laws to be consistent with international norms, clear and transparent, this will make it easier for citizens, residents, investors and tourists to deal with them. Let's take, for example, the Kingdom's goal of doubling foreign investments in it during the existing years. It will not be able to convince the target investor if the legal system is inconsistent with international standards or is ambiguous so that the investor does not know how it will be implemented. Similarly, if the tourism sector’s goal is to attract 100 million tourists during the coming period, the target tourist will not be enthusiastic about visiting the Kingdom if he is not sure of the transparency of the laws and their consistency with international norms in their content and implementation mechanism. The same applies to the Kingdom's desire to attract creative and distinguished human capabilities to work in it.
The Crown Prince rejected any fear that this way of enacting laws could weaken the national identity, saying: “If your identity cannot withstand the great diversity in the world, it means that your identity is weak and we must dispense with it, and if your identity is strong and authentic, you can develop, develop and modify it. The negatives in it and stimulate the positives in it, meaning you have preserved and developed your identity... I think that our identity is very strong and we are proud of it.”
In February, Prince Mohammed bin Salman announced some of the features of this legal reform, explaining that it aims to develop the legislative process, by “developing and reforming systems that preserve rights, establish principles of justice and transparency, protect human rights and achieve comprehensive development, It enhances the Kingdom’s global competitiveness through clear and specific institutional, procedural and objective references.”
There are four main laws under procedure at the present time, which are the draft personal status system, the civil transactions system project, the penal system project for punitive penalties, and the draft system of evidence.
These laws represent a new wave of reforms, aimed at enhancing “the predictability of judgments, raising the level of integrity and the efficiency of the performance of justice agencies and increasing the reliability of procedures and oversight mechanisms, as they are a fundamental pillar for achieving the principles of justice that impose clarity on the limits of responsibility, and the stability of the systemic reference in a manner that limits individuality in issuing judgments.” ', according to the Crown Prince's statement at the time.
According to the procedures followed in the Kingdom, bills are currently going through different stages of the legislative process, as they are first referred to the Council of Ministers and its affiliated agencies; To study and review it, in preparation for referring it to the Shura Council, and then issuing it in accordance with the established rules.
Saudi officials are aware that the lack of this legislation has led in the past to a discrepancy in rulings and a lack of clarity in the rules governing facts and practices, which led to a prolonged litigation and discrepancies in rulings issued that are not based on legal texts, in addition to the lack of a clear legal framework for individuals. and the business sector in building their obligations, thus weakening their ability to plan according to clear legal frameworks that protect their rights and clarify their obligations, and in return it gave some an opportunity to evade their responsibilities.
As the Crown Prince said, the absence of this legislation was “painful for many individuals and families, especially for women, and enabled some to shirk their responsibilities, which will not be repeated if these regulations are approved in accordance with the regular procedures.”
In his last television interview, the Crown Prince gave some examples that show the conflict of some current legal conditions with legal traditions in Islam, as well as their violation of modern legal trends. Contrary to the principle of “there is no crime or punishment without a clear text”, which is a stable principle throughout history, we find some rulings issued with heavy penalties that do not have a clear reference in the texts of Sharia or law.
He gave another example related to the right to defend the accused, as the tradition in the era of prophecy was based on the principle of not encouraging the accused to confess to committing a legitimate crime, but rather urging him to return to it, and in the event of his insistence on confession, mitigating circumstances are sought that exempt him from punishment or mitigate them. Based on that principle, the Islamic prosecution became concerned with collecting and evaluating the evidence and evidence of innocence alike, balancing them and submitting them to the judiciary. On the other hand, we find the current application far from that principle, as the research is focused on evidence that seeks to establish conviction and not innocence of the offense.
This legal review, which the Crown Prince was interested in, will be one of the most important achievements of Vision 2030, and it is a comprehensive review of principles and texts, and of both procedural and substantive issues. It will have a positive impact on the quality of life in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, and on achieving the development goals of the vision.
The four laws are expected to be issued during 2021, which is part of an ongoing process to develop the legislative system in the Kingdom, taking into account the latest legal trends and modern international judicial practices, in a manner that does not conflict with Sharia provisions, and takes into account the Kingdom's obligations with regard to international charters and agreements to which it has acceded.
Given the special position that the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia occupies among the Arab countries and the Islamic countries, these reforms may find their way in the appropriate time to other countries, as the conditions referred to by the Crown Prince are not limited to the Kingdom, but exist in many countries. The fragility of the legal and judicial environment in the Arab countries is one of the most important reasons for the decline in investment growth in them, and the weakness of legal protection is one of the reasons for the migration of Arab youth abroad and their reluctance to invest in their countries.
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