In force
Saudi Classified Information Penal Law
نظام عقوبات نشر الوثائق والمعلومات السرية وإفشائها
Sets penalties for disseminating and disclosing classified documents and information in Saudi Arabia. It has 12 articles and concerns public employees, those treated as such, and anyone who obtains classified material.
- Articles
- 12
- In force
- 12
- Amended
- 0
- Issued
- 8/5/1432 AH
Issued by: مرسوم ملكي رقم (م / 35) بتاريخ 8 / 5 / 1432 · قرار مجلس الوزراء رقم (141) بتاريخ 7 / 5 / 1432
Each article shows the official Arabic text, which is the only legally binding version, followed by our plain-English explanation.
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Articles of the Saudi Classified Information Penal Law
- Article 1Article 1 defines classified documents and classified information, and refers to a regulation issued by the National Center for Documents and Archives to specify the names of documents, their degrees of secrecy and their subjects.
- Article 2Article 2 prohibits a public employee or person treated as one, even after his service ends, from publishing any classified document or disclosing any classified information he obtained or learned by virtue of his job, as long as that remains prohibited.
- Article 3Article 3 specifies the categories treated as public employees in applying this Law, including those working for the State, those assigned a task, public utility company staff, and an appointed arbitrator or expert.
- Article 4Article 4 prohibits taking classified documents out of government bodies, exchanging them, keeping them outside their designated places, and printing, copying or photographing them outside government bodies, except under the National Center for Documents and Archives' controls.
- Article 5Article 5 punishes with imprisonment of up to twenty years or a fine of up to one million riyals, or both, anyone who publishes classified documents and information, or obtains them by unlawful means, or destroys them, or breaches their confidentiality.
- Article 6Article 6 punishes the accomplice in this Law's crimes with the Article 5 penalty, and treats as an accomplice anyone who agreed, incited or assisted knowingly if the crime was committed on that basis.
- Article 7Article 7 requires that proportionality and mitigating and aggravating circumstances be considered when applying the Article 5 penalty, and lists seven aggravating circumstances, including wartime and acting for a foreign state.
- Article 8Article 8 assigns to the investigating body competent under law the investigation of this Law's crimes and prosecution for them before the competent judicial body.
- Article 9Article 9 requires government bodies, including security bodies, to notify the investigating body when any crime under this Law occurs, and to notify the government body to which the suspect belongs under Article 3.
- Article 10The article assigns to the competent court the hearing of the offenses under this law and the imposition of the penalty it provides.
- Article 11The article charges the National Center for Archives and Records with issuing the law's Implementing Regulations within ninety days of its entry into force.
- Article 12The article provides that the law takes effect ninety days after its publication in the Official Gazette.