Saudi Arabia

Saudi Arabia to eliminate flogging punishment

Saudi Arabia’s Supreme Court is set to implement a directive from higher authorities calling for the elimination of flogging as a form of punishment in judicial verdicts, Okaz Arabic daily has reported.

Reports state that the General Commission for the Supreme Court has issued a decision, with a majority vote, stipulating that it should suffice courts to restrict discretionary (Ta’ziri) punishments to a jail term or fine, or both, or alternative penalties.

The sources added that it is incumbent upon the courts to implement this principle and not to digress from it whatsoever.

Last year, the Saudi Shoura Council member Faisal Al-Fadhil, had called for abrogation of the flogging penalty and restricting it only to Hudood cases, which entail capital punishment, in the Shariah law.

The elimination of flogging as a punishment is the latest in a series of steps taken by the Kingdom to modernize its judicial system.

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