From CDHR
October 10, 2007
Another Face Lift?
By Ali Alyami
King Abdullah issued a royal decree earlier this month to modernize the Saudi judicial system and claimed that the judiciary is independent. This is not true. All judges are chosen from those who interpret, implement and support the state-sanctioned intolerant and austere religious dogma, Wahhabism. Judges have only religious training and are appointed based on their blind loyalty to the royal family. No one dares to challenge the appointments of judges who are installed by the royal family and their higher council of Ulama, the religious clerics. The king has the ability to strike any verdict issued by any judge with a hand signal or a phone call. The court system rarely criticizes or supports any criticism of a member of the royal family, despite its corruption and squandering of public wealth. Royal family members are never tried in Saudi public courts.