There are two bodies concerned with human rights in Saudi Arabia, one governmental and one nongovernmental. The nongovernmental was established on 9 March, 2004 under the name “National Society for Human Rights”. Not much is heard from the governmental body but the National Society for Human Rights has already published on its website its first report in 42 full pages. The report is, without doubt, an important landmark in the modern history of Saudi Arabia and it is worth reading very carefully.

The report spells out the aim of the Society which is the promotion and protection of human rights in the kingdom through the monitoring and documentation of human rights’ violations, educating and informing the Saudi people and expatriates of their rights, as well as studying local regulations in order to bring attention to any violations with human rights that they might contain. The report promises to be issued annually and to watch very closely and evaluate very carefully the state of human rights in the kingdom and to note and encourage progress in this regard.

The report starts by laying out the legal frame for human rights in Saudi Arabia, which consists of:

* The Islamic sharie’ah,

* The Basic Law of Government,

* Local regulations,

* International human rights charters endorsed by the kingdom.

For the last three years, since it was established, the society received more than 8,570 complaints of human rights violations of which 22% are related to administrative breaches, 18% by prisoners, 13% job related, 8% family violence, 7% about civil cases, 7% personal, 6% about faulty judicial procedures, 19% miscellaneous.

The first chapter in the report lists all the Arab and international treaties, charters and agreements related to human rights, which are binding to the kingdom of Saudi Arabia by virtue of endorsing and signing them. The report points out that the kingdom is bound to review all its laws and regulations to make sure that none of them contradicts these signed agreements. In the meantime, the report urges the kingdom to join the international community and sign other treaties and charters, which it had not signed yet.

The report recommends the establishment of a supreme court with mandate to abolish any clause or paragraph in the local laws and regulations that violates international human rights treaties endorsed by the kingdom or the constitutional rights of its citizens.

The report stresses the importance of the proper application of and strict adherence to the procedures specified by the Saudi penal code regarding arrest, detention and interrogation, most importantly:

* any person taken into custody has the right to be told immediately of the reason for the arrest and be granted the right to contact whomever (s)he wishes to inform about his/her arrest,

* not to torture or insult the detained person in any way,

* not to coerce the detained to give information under duress,

* the detained has the right to seek the help of a lawyer,

It is pointed out that the penal code is not yet fully understood by most judges, policemen, inspectors, interrogators and magistrates. This had lead to serious breaches of individual rights and liberty. People and agencies responsible for such negligence must be held accountable and any arrest or trial conducted according to faulty procedures must be deemed nil and void. Proper application of the penal code requires that its bylaws be codified and set down clearly in writing. This is to insure consistent application and minimize discrepancies due to differences in individual interpretation. The penal code as it exists now suffers from ambiguity and some other shortcomings. For example, it does not give the detained the right to remain silent and to ask for the help of a lawyer. Due to this fuzziness, different judges might pass different judgments on similar cases, each according to his own discretion.

The report points out that the society has received many complaints about the excesses of certain agencies in interrogating and handling suspects, detainees and convicts through beating and other forms of physical and psychological tortures. Most complaints were lodged against religious police, regular police, and officers working for narcotics division. Prisoners are also subjected to torture and punishment in their cells at the hands of their jailers. The report recommends that a prisoner should be given a medical examination any time (s)he claims that (s)he was subjected to torture. Whenever there is a solid proof of torture the person(s) responsible must be punished. Such cases of torture should be looked into by the Board of Grievances.

In addition to all this, some agencies, especially the religious police, were notorious for breaking and entering private homes and offices for search and inspection without search warrant or authorization. It was pointed out that the perpetrators of such violations of individual rights were never reprimanded or punished by their superiors or dismissed from their jobs. When the victims lodged complaints against the perpetrators of such violations, their complaints were forwarded to the perpetrators themselves to handle them.

The powers and authority of some agencies, such as security forces and, in particular, the religious police, were worded in such a wide and loose manner which made them almost unlimited and amenable to multiple interpretations. This enabled such agencies to violate individual rights with immunity. The report recommends the rewording of the jurisdictions of such agencies in a more precise manner. The society received many complaints in this regard including:

* unwarranted arrests,

* car chasing, cursing, insulting and embarrassing in public,

* unwarranted personal inspection, beating and forced admissions,

* breaking and entering of private residents,

* damage to personal property such as cars, mobile phones and computers.

The report stresses the importance of wearing special uniforms and carrying identity cards by officers of the religious police to prevent other zealots from masquerading as religious police.

Among other violations of human rights and civil liberties monitored by the society include:

* restriction on the movement of some citizens or the confiscation of their passports and preventing them from traveling abroad,

* unfair practices by various branches of the government regarding employment and the rewarding of jobs not according to qualifications but according to criteria not always relevant to the job or position,

* the spread of bribery, nepotism and favoritism,

* discrimination against persons who belong to certain sects or tribes or regions in the kingdom.

* discrimination against and exploitation of foreign workers and domestics by their sponsors and employers.

* preferential treatment of and better salaries for European and Western expatriates visa vis other nationalities and races.

The third chapter in the report discusses in some details civil rights in the kingdom, including religious tolerance and freedom of religion. Civil rights also include obtaining citizenship for all legible persons with the full rights entailed by that. The report notes that children of Saudi fathers and non-Saudi mothers are granted Saudi citizenship while the opposite is not the case, which constitutes a form of discrimination against women.

The chapter also touches on the judicial procedures stressing the importance of every person receiving a fair and speedy trial. Then the chapter moves on to point out some deficiencies in the legal system which include:

* show of preferential and unequal treatment by judges towards litigants, either in the passing of judgment or in giving opportunity for defense and presentation of the case,

* discrimination against witnesses and the evaluation of some above others and the acceptance of the testimony of police officers and members of the religious police against detainees without scrutiny,

* resort to unwarranted secret trials in many cases,

* lack of expertise by judges in many of the cases they look into.

* shortage of qualified judges,

The fourth chapter of the report deals with the touchy issue of political rights. It calls for freedom of expression and freedom of assembly and the encouragement of establishing various organizations of civil society. It also points out that political authority resides in public consent, therefore, it calls for public participation in the making of public policies and political decisions through the institution of periodical free public elections and the granting of women the full right to vote and hold public office. In addition to the partial municipal elections, members of the Consultative Councils should be partially, if not fully, elected.

The fifth chapter of the report deals with social and cultural rights while the sixth chapter deals with the rights of minorities and oppressed groups, including women children, prisoners and foreign workers. Some social norms, which discriminate against women are confused with religious prescriptions. Freedom of women is restricted in some cases where the consent of the woman’s male guardian is required. A woman is sometimes subjected to the arbitrary authority of her male guardian, even if she happened to be highly educated while he is uninformed illiterate. Also, the child of a Saudi woman is not granted citizenship if his father is not a Saudi. Some women are still forced to marry against their well to men they do not want to marry while prevented from marrying the man they wish to marry. This also goes for divorce and custody of children. The report also noted the rise of cases of family violence against women and children.

Violations of prisoners’ rights include crowded and poorly equipped prisons, lack of medical treatment, detention of children with dangerous adult criminals and the delay of prisoners’ release after the expiration of their sentence.

As for foreign workers, they are under the mercy of their sponsors who sometimes deny them their rights and subject them to exploitation and maltreatment.

The report concludes by making several recommendations the most important of which are:

* the establishment of a supreme court with the mandate to streamline local regulations with all international human rights charters endorsed by the kingdom,

* the undertaking of adjusting local legislations by the Consultative Council and other concerned branches of the government to bring them in line with international treaties concerned with human rights.

* restructuring the judicial system and guaranteeing the independence and impartiality of judges,

* promoting accountability to root out corruption and abuse of power,

* promoting the role of the organizations of civil society and their participation in national dialogue and reform,

* promoting freedom of expression and defending individual rights and liberty.