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<text>
<title>
Saudi Arabia
</title>
<article>
<hdr>
Human Rights Watch World Report 1992
Middle East Watch: Saudi Arabia
</hdr>
<body>
<p>Human Rights Developments
</p>
<p> Saudi Arabia is a party to only three international human
rights instruments: the Genocide Convention, the Slavery
Convention and the Supplementary Convention on the Abolition of
Slavery. Indeed, the kingdom was one of only a handful of
countries--South Africa and former Soviet Bloc countries were
the others--that did not vote for the Universal Declaration
of Human Rights when it was adopted by the United Nations
General Assembly on December 10, 1948. Saudi Arabia's stated
reservations to the Universal Declaration were that its call
for freedom of religion violated the precepts of Islam, and that
the human rights guaranteed by the Islamic-based law of Saudi
Arabia surpassed those secured by the Universal Declaration.
(Ministry of Information, Proceedings of Conference of Saudi
Scholars and European Lawyers on Islamic Law and Human Rights,
Riyadh: Ministry of Information Press, 1972, p. 15 (in Arabic).)
These two arguments were later repeated to explain Saudi refusal
to sign most other human rights documents, including the
International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights. (Ministry
of Foreign Affairs, Diplomatic Studies Institute, Human Rights:
Western Claims and Islamic Authenticity, Riyadh, 1986.) The
only other pertinent international treaties that Saudi Arabia
has adhered to are the four Geneva Conventions of 1949 and
thirteen (of more than 170) conventions of the International
Labor Organization.
</p>
<p> Saudi Arabia does not have a written constitution or an
elected legislative body. There are no elections of any kind.
All political parties are banned, as are most forms of
association. All critical political expression is forbidden.
The press is strictly regulated, and assembly is severely
restricted.
</p>
<p> In theory, the legal system is based on Shari`a (Islamic
law). However, secular legislation is frequently proposed by
the Council of Ministers. It becomes law after it is ratified
by royal decree (marsoom). The king can directly issue a royal
order (amr) which in practice has the same weight as a decree.
Senior ministers also have broad authority to enact
legislation. Secular courts specialize in commercial and labor
disputes and interpret government-issued secular laws. But most
courts are based on the strict Hanbali school of Shari`a law.
There are no codified laws; the courts rely mostly on
commentaries written in the Middle Ages, especially by the
thirteen-century jurist, Ibn Taimiyya.
</p>
<p> Frequently, the government bypasses the court system
altogether, disposing of suspects either by administrative
action or by forming closed-door summary tribunals to try them.
In 1980, for example, then-King Khaled ordered the execution,
without any judicial proceeding, of sixty-three suspects
captured by government troops after bloody clashes with a
radical Islamic group in which more than two hundred government
forces were killed. While executions without trial are
exceptional, lesser administrative sentences are common,
including lengthy prison terms and flogging.
</p>
<p> A royal pardon issued in June, resulting in the freeing of
most prisoners held for politically motivated offenses without
due process was the only notable improvement in human rights in
Saudi Arabia in 1991. However, despite King Fahd's declarations
since late 1990 that he would soon approve a draft constitution
and appoint a consultative assembly, neither promise has been
fulfilled. The hopes for positive change that were encouraged
by international exposure during the Persian Gulf crisis were
quickly dashed as soon as the war was over and access by the
international press was once again restricted.
</p>
<p> Saudi arrest and detention procedures are governed by
Imprisonment and Detention Law No. 31 of 1978, which places few
restrictions on the grounds or duration of pretrial detention
of suspects. However, Article 4 waives all restrictions for
"crimes involving national security," giving the Minister of
Interior untrammeled discretion over these cases.
</p>
<p> A judicial procedures act--the first of its kind in Saudi
Arabia--was passed by the Council of Ministers and ratified
by King Fahd in June 1990. This welcome law established
guidelines for protective custody and pretrial detention and
also clarified the sometimes problematic jurisdictional division
between the Shari`a and secular courts. Two months later,
however, King Fahd repealed the law, asserting that there was
"need of further study," and once again leaving detainees with
virtually no protection against arbitrary arrest and detention,
especially at the hands of the secret and religious police.
</p>
<p> During the first two months of 1991, the Saudi government
continued its roundup of scores of opponents of the Gulf war,
most of whom were members of various religious groups. Nearly
all were released after the war and were never charged with any
crime. In accordance with standard Saudi practice, most of
these detainees were held in prolonged incommunicado detention
without access to family or legal counsel. Only after the
initial interrogation were some allowed legal counsel and, in
the case of foreign detainees, visits by embassy
representatives.
</p>
<p> Hundreds of foreign residents, mostly Arab nationals, were
arrested after an armed attack on a bus carrying U.S. military
personnel in Jiddah on February 3, 1991. Most were released
after the authorities were satisfied that the main suspects had
been apprehended. While in custody, nearly all were held
incommunicado.
</p>
<p> The royal pardon referred to above resulted in the release
of most detainees held without due process for nonviolent
political offenses. Granting amnesty is customary around Eid
al-Adha, the Muslim feast of sacrifice, but in 1991 it included
more prisoners than in previous years, perhaps in celebration
of the Desert Storm victory and as an attempt to mend fences
with the opposition. Those pardoned included prisoners suspected
of membership in the secular Arab Socialist Action Party and
two Shi`a organizations, Hizbollah of Hijaz and the Islamic
Revolution Organization. However, the amnesty did not mean
immediate rehabilitation of all prisoners. Security prisoners
were given a five-year probationary period when they cannot
travel abroad or hold government jobs.
</p>
<p> A number of long-term security prisoners did not benefit
from the sweeping amnesty. They include twenty people arrested
in 1988 on suspicion of bombing oil installations in the
eastern oil town of Abqaiq. Denied legal representation during
their trial, the twenty-six suspects were subjected to severe
torture, according to credible reports from family members. Four
of the suspects were executed under the terms of Regulation No.
148 of 1989, an ex-post-facto regulation issued after their
arrest, in clear violation of the principles codified in
Articles 6(2) and 15 of the International Covenant on Civil and
Political Rights. (Despite the Saudi government's contention
that this regulation was not a new law but merely an
interpretation of existing Shari'a prohibition against
terrorism, many in Saudi Arabia believed that it was a departure
from long-standing practice. The regulation allowed judges to
impose the death penalty on those who commit acts of sabotage
against "essential utilities such as oil pipelines and oil
installations whose functioning is essential for the safety of
citizens or the security of the nation." The regulation did not
require that the sabotage result in loss of life for the death
penalty to be imposed. While the Qur'anic phrase on which the
regulation relies is admittedly ambiguous, it had been
long-standing practice that the range of punishments for armed
insurrection (heraba) spelled out in the Qur'an (ranging in
severity from exile to execution) be calibrated to the severity
of the harm cau