In force Last amended 26/5/1443 AH
Saudi Criminal Procedure Law
نظام الإجراءات الجزائية
The Criminal Procedure Law covers general provisions and rights of the accused, the criminal case, evidence-gathering and investigation procedures, the courts, trial procedures, ways of challenging judgments (appeal, cassation and reconsideration), and enforcement of judgments.
- Articles
- 222
- In force
- 222
- Amended
- 3
- Issued
- 22/1/1435 AH
Issued by: مرسوم ملكي رقم ( م/2 ) بتاريخ 22 / 1 / 1435
Each article shows the official Arabic text, which is the only legally binding version, followed by our plain-English explanation.
Browse Criminal Procedure Law by topic
Rights of the Accused41 articlesThe Criminal Case and Its Extinction11 articlesArrest and Flagrant Offenses27 articlesSearch and Seizure40 articlesInvestigating the Accused34 articlesDetention and Provisional Release17 articlesDismissing the Case and Criminal Jurisdiction19 articlesCriminal Trial Procedures49 articlesPrivate Right and Compensation22 articlesCriminal Judgment and Nullity of Procedures19 articlesObjecting to Criminal Judgments23 articlesEnforcing Criminal Judgments16 articles
Articles of the Saudi Criminal Procedure Law
الباب الأول: أحكام عامةArticles 1–14
- Article 1The article requires the courts to apply Sharia rules and the regulations that do not conflict with the Quran and the Sunnah, and to observe the procedures of the Criminal Procedure Law when hearing cases.
- Article 2The article bars arresting, searching, detaining or imprisoning any person except in the cases provided by law, and prohibits harming, torturing or degrading an arrested person.
- Article 3The article bars imposing any criminal penalty on a person except after his conviction is proven for an act prohibited by Sharia or by law, following a trial conducted according to Sharia requirements.
- Article 4The article gives every accused the right to engage an agent or lawyer to defend him in the investigation and trial stages, and refers to the Law's regulations to state the accused's rights he must be informed of.
- Article 5The article bars referring a case already brought before a court to another court or body, or anyone withdrawing it, before judgment, and treats the case as brought from the date it is registered at the court.
- Article 6The article makes trying the accused the role of the courts under Sharia requirements and the Law's procedures, and allows the court to consider facts the public prosecutor did not allege if they need no investigation.
- Article 7The article requires the number of judges required by law to attend the sessions hearing a case and the judgment session, and says who is assigned to complete the quorum if the number is not met.
- Article 8The article requires judges to deliberate in secret before issuing the judgment, which is issued unanimously or by majority, with the minority's opinion stated and answered in the record, and limits deliberation to those who heard the pleading.
- Article 9The article provides that criminal judgments are open to objection under the provisions of the Criminal Procedure Law.
- Article 10The article provides that judgments issued by the court of appeal, or upheld by it, for death, stoning, amputation or qisas (retaliation) are not final until upheld by the Supreme Court.
- Article 11The article provides that if the Supreme Court does not uphold a judgment presented to it under Article 10, it sets it aside and returns the case to the court of first instance to rule on it anew by judges other than those who heard it.
- Article 12The article refers the investigation of juveniles and girls, and their trial, to the laws and regulations governing that.
- Article 13The article assigns investigation and public prosecution to the Bureau of Investigation and Public Prosecution, under its law and regulations.
- Article 14The article requires all officers of public authority to carry out the orders of judicial bodies issued under the Law, and allows them to use the appropriate means to carry them out.
الباب الثاني: الدعوى الجزائيةArticles 15–23
- Article 15The article makes bringing the criminal case and pursuing it before the competent courts the jurisdiction of the Bureau of Investigation and Public Prosecution, under its law.
- Article 16The article gives the victim or whoever acts for him, and his heir after him, the right to bring the criminal case in cases involving a private right and pursue it, with the court notifying the public prosecutor to attend.
- Article 17The article does not allow bringing the criminal case or investigating private-right crimes except upon a complaint from the victim, his representative or his heir, unless the Bureau of Investigation and Public Prosecution sees a public interest.
- Article 18The article provides that if the court finds a conflict between the interest of the victim or his heir and that of his representative, the representative is barred from continuing to plead and another representative is appointed.
- Article 19The article requires the court, if it finds accused persons other than those the case was brought against, or other facts related to the charge, to notify whoever brought the case so the procedures can be completed.
- Article 20The article allows the court to examine and rule, under Sharia, on acts that disrupt its orders or the respect due to it, or that influence its members, the parties or witnesses, where they relate to a case before it.
- Article 21The article bars a member of the Investigation and Public Prosecution from handling a case or issuing any decision in it if he has a personal connection to the crime or the parties, or has previously worked on it.
- Article 22The article sets four situations in which the public criminal action ends: a final judgment, the ruler's pardon where pardon applies, repentance that waives the penalty, and the death of the accused, without preventing the private-right action from continuing.
- Article 23The article sets two situations in which the private criminal action ends, a final judgment and a pardon by the victim or his heir, and states that the pardon does not prevent the public-right action from continuing.
الباب الثالث: إجراءات الاستدلالArticles 24–62
- Article 24The article defines judicial police officers as the persons who search for the perpetrators of crimes and gather the information and evidence needed for investigation and bringing charges.
- Article 25The article places judicial police officers, in their judicial police functions, under the supervision of the Public Prosecution, and allows it to request disciplinary accountability for violators or negligent officers, without prejudice to the right to bring a criminal action.Amended
- Article 26The article lists the categories that carry out judicial police work, each according to its assigned tasks, from members of the Investigation and Public Prosecution and police directors to those authorized by special laws.
- Article 27The article requires judicial police officers to accept reports and complaints in all crimes, examine and document them and notify the Authority immediately, and to go to the scene to preserve it and seize the evidence.
- Article 28The article allows judicial police officers, while gathering information, to hear those who have information and question the person accused of the crime, record this in their records, and seek the written opinion of experts.
- Article 29The article treats a complaint by a person harmed by the crime as a claim for his private right unless he expressly states before the investigator that he waives it, and requires the waiver to be recorded and witnessed, with court ratification for retaliation and the hadd of defamation.
- Article 30The article defines a flagrant crime as one caught while being committed or shortly afterward, and lists other situations in which a crime is treated as flagrant.
- Article 31The article requires the judicial police officer, in a flagrant crime, to go immediately to the scene, inspect it, preserve its traces, hear those present and notify the Investigation and Public Prosecution of his going.
- Article 32The article allows the judicial police officer, in a flagrant crime, to prevent those present from leaving the scene until the record is drawn up and to summon anyone with information, and to refer violators to the competent court.
- Article 33The article allows the judicial police officer, in a flagrant crime, to arrest an accused person who is present where there is sufficient evidence, and bars keeping him detained for more than 24 hours except by written order of the investigator.
- Article 34The article requires the arrested person's statements to be heard immediately and him to be sent to the investigator within 24 hours if the evidence appears sufficient, after which the investigator interrogates him within 24 hours and orders his detention or release.
- Article 35The article provides that, outside flagrant crimes, no one may be arrested or detained except by order of the competent authority.
- Article 36The article guarantees the detainee dignified treatment, no harm, knowledge of the reasons for detention and contact with whom he wishes, and sets rules for detained employees and women.
- Article 37The article limits detention and imprisonment to places designated by law, and bars admitting anyone except under a reasoned, time-limited order signed by the competent authority, or keeping him beyond that period.
- Article 38The article requires the competent members of the Investigation and Public Prosecution to visit prisons and places of detention at any time to verify the lawfulness of confinement and hear prisoners' complaints, and obliges directors to facilitate this.
- Article 39The article gives every prisoner or detainee the right to submit a written or oral complaint at any time to the prison director, who must record it and immediately pass it on to a member of the Investigation and Public Prosecution.
- Article 40The article lets anyone who learns of unlawful imprisonment or detention notify the Investigation and Public Prosecution, and requires its member to go, investigate, order release and draw up a record to hold those responsible to account.
- Article 41The article establishes the inviolability of persons, their homes, offices and vehicles, and clarifies that a person's inviolability covers his body, clothing, property and belongings, and that a home includes any enclosed or fenced place or one prepared as shelter.
- Article 42The article bars entering or searching homes except in cases provided by law and under a reasoned order from the Investigation and Public Prosecution, accepts a reasoned permit from the investigator for other places, and sets specific cases of necessity.
- Article 43The article allows the judicial police officer to search the accused in cases in which he may lawfully be arrested, covering his body, clothing and belongings, and requires a woman to be searched by a woman whom the officer assigns.
- Article 44The article allows the judicial police officer, in a flagrant crime, to search the accused's home and seize what helps reveal the truth, if strong indications show that such items are in the home.
- Article 45The article allows the judicial police officer to search the accused or any person in his home during the search, if indications arise that he is hiding something that helps reveal the truth.
- Article 46The article limits a search to looking for things relating to the crime under investigation, and requires the judicial police officer to seize what appears incidentally that it is a crime to possess or that helps in another crime, and record it.
- Article 47The article requires a home to be searched in the presence of its owner, his delegate or an adult family member residing with him, failing which the neighborhood chief or two witnesses, with him allowed to see the permit.
- Article 48The article sets the details a search record must contain: the searcher, his position, signature, and the date and hour, the permit or necessity, those present and their signatures, a description of items seized, and the measures taken.
- Article 49The article bars the judicial police officer from opening sealed or closed papers he finds in the accused's home, and requires him to record them in the search record and present them to the competent investigator.
- Article 50The article requires seized items to be placed in a closed, sealed container marked with the record's date and the subject of the seizure before leaving the search site, and kept in safe places with a special register under the Public Prosecution's oversight.
- Article 51The article bars breaking the seals placed on seized items except in the presence of the accused, his agent or the person from whom they were seized, or after inviting and notifying them and their not attending at the specified time.
- Article 52The article requires a search to take place by day from sunrise to sunset, allows it to continue at night if continuous, and bars entering homes at night except in a flagrant crime.
- Article 53The article requires a woman to be with those carrying out the search if the only person in the home to be searched is the female accused.
- Article 54The article requires, when searching a home with women whom it is not intended to arrest or search, a woman to be with those carrying out the search and the women to be allowed to veil or leave without harming the search.
- Article 55The article bars searching a person who is not the accused or a home other than his, unless strong indications show that the search will help the investigation.
- Article 56The article establishes the inviolability of postal and telegraphic messages, telephone conversations and other means of communication, which may not be viewed or monitored except under a reasoned order for a specified period as the Law provides.
- Article 57The article allows the head of the Investigation and Public Prosecution to order the seizure of messages and parcels and authorize the monitoring and recording of telephone conversations, by reasoned order for no more than 10 days, renewable.
- Article 58The article limits viewing seized letters, messages, papers and items and listening to recordings to the investigator alone, who may order them or copies added to the case file or returned to their possessor or addressee.
- Article 59The article requires the content of seized letters and postal and telegraphic messages to be communicated to the accused or addressee, or a copy given to him, as soon as possible, unless that would harm the investigation.
- Article 60The article lets the person entitled to seized items ask the competent investigator to hand them over to him, and file a grievance with the head of the investigator's department if refused.
- Article 61The article binds the investigator and anyone who learns, because of the search, of information about seized items and papers to keep it confidential and not benefit from it, and holds violators accountable.
- Article 62A person from whom papers were seized and who has an urgent interest in them is given a copy certified by the investigator, subject to Article 59.
الباب الرابع: إجراءات التحقيقArticles 63–127
- Article 63If the investigator sees no basis to proceed with the case, he may recommend that the papers be archived, and the archiving order is issued by the head of the department to which he belongs.
- Article 64If an order archiving the case is issued, the investigator must notify the victim and the private claimant, and if one of them has died, all his heirs at the deceased's place of residence.
- Article 65The accused may use an agent or lawyer to attend the investigation; investigation is required in all major crimes, and for other crimes the investigator may investigate or bring the case directly to court.
- Article 66The investigator may delegate in writing a judicial police officer to carry out investigation procedures except interrogating the accused, may delegate for procedures outside his jurisdiction, and must go in person if the interest of the investigation requires.
- Article 67When delegating, the investigator must state in writing the matters and procedures required, and the delegate may carry out other investigation work and interrogate the accused if time may be lost, subject to conditions.
- Article 68The article makes investigation procedures and results secrets that investigators, their assistants and anyone connected with or attending the investigation by reason of his job or profession must not disclose, and violators are held accountable.
- Article 69A person harmed by a crime may claim his private right during the investigation, decided within 3 days with objection within a week, and the parties and their lawyers may attend the investigation as the regulations provide.
- Article 70The investigator may not separate the accused from his attending agent or lawyer, the lawyer intervenes only with the investigator's permission, and may submit a written memorandum of his remarks to be added to the case file.
- Article 71The parties are notified of the hour and day on which the investigator will conduct the investigation procedures, and of the place where they are conducted.
- Article 72A victim or private claimant not resident in the town of the court where the investigation is conducted must designate a place there, failing which notifying him is valid by notifying the court administration.
- Article 73During the investigation the parties may submit to the investigator whatever requests they see fit, and the investigator must decide on them and state the reasons on which he relied.
- Article 74If the investigator's orders and decisions regarding the investigation were not issued in the presence of the parties, he must notify them of them within 3 days of the date they were issued.
- Article 75The investigator may, while carrying out his duty, seek the direct assistance of security personnel if the matter requires it.
- Article 76The investigator may seek the assistance of a competent expert to give an opinion on any matter relating to the investigation he conducts.
- Article 77The expert must submit his report in writing by the date set by the investigator, who may replace him if he is late or finds a basis, and each party may submit another expert's report in an advisory capacity.
- Article 78The parties may object to the expert on strong grounds by a reasoned objection submitted to the investigator and decided within 3 days, and the expert stops work unless urgency requires otherwise.
- Article 79Where necessary, the investigator goes, immediately on being notified of a crime within his jurisdiction, to the place where it occurred to inspect it before its traces disappear or change, without this preventing aid to the injured.
- Article 80Searching a home is an investigative act, allowed only on an accusation against its resident, their participation, or indications they hold crime-related items, under a reasoned order from the Bureau of Investigation and Public Prosecution and with a report of its reasons and results.
- Article 81The investigator may search the accused, and may search another person if strong indications show they are hiding items that help uncover the truth, subject to Article 43.
- Article 82The seizure of letters, messages, newspapers, publications, parcels, telegrams, telephone conversations and other means of communication must observe the provisions of Chapter Five of Part Three.
- Article 83The provisions of Article 50 of the Criminal Procedure Law apply to the items and papers that are seized.
- Article 84The investigator may not seize papers and documents that the accused handed to his agent or lawyer to carry out his task, nor the correspondence exchanged between them in the case.
- Article 85If the investigator has evidence that a particular person possesses items related to the crime, he obtains an order from the head of his department for them to be handed to him or for him to be allowed to examine them.
- Article 86An order may be made for the return of items seized during the investigation even before judgment, unless they are needed to proceed with the case or are subject to confiscation.
- Article 87Seized items are returned to the person who possessed them when seized; items on which the crime was committed or that resulted from it are returned to the person who lost possession through the crime, unless the person holding them has a right to withhold them.
- Article 88The order for the return of seized items is issued by the investigator or by the competent court within whose jurisdiction the place of the investigation falls, and the court may order return while the case is being heard.
- Article 89An order for the return of seized items does not prevent those concerned from claiming their rights before the competent court, except the accused and the private claimant if the order was issued by the court at the request of one against the other.
- Article 90The investigator may not order the return of seized items where there is a dispute or doubt about who is entitled to receive them; the matter is then brought before the competent court at the request of those concerned, and it orders what it sees fit.
- Article 91The article requires a decision on how seized items are to be disposed of when an order is made to close the case, and also when judgment is given if their return is claimed before the court.
- Article 92The article provides that seized items that their owners do not claim after being notified of their right to recover them are deposited with the General Authority for Guardianship of Minors' Funds and the Like.
- Article 93The article allows the court within whose jurisdiction the place of the investigation falls to refer the parties to litigation before the competent court, with the seized items possibly placed under guard or other precautionary measures taken.
- Article 94Where a seized item perishes with the passage of time or the cost of preserving it consumes its value, the court orders it handed to its owner or to the Authority to be sold at auction, when the needs of the investigation allow.
- Article 95The article requires the investigator to hear the witnesses whom the parties ask to have heard unless he sees no benefit in it, and allows him to hear any witness he sees fit, whether to prove or to disprove.
- Article 96The article requires full particulars of each witness to be recorded in the report, and his testimony to be recorded without amendment, deletion, scraping, interlineation or addition unless certified by the investigator, the clerk and the witness.
- Article 97The article requires the investigator and the clerk to sign the testimony and the witness to sign after it is read to him, and requires his refusal or inability to be recorded in the report with his reasons.
- Article 98The article requires the investigator to hear each witness separately, and allows him to confront witnesses with one another and with the parties.
- Article 99The article allows the parties to comment on the witness's statements and ask that he be heard on other points, and allows the investigator to reject any question that is unrelated to the case or is offensive to anyone.
- Article 100The article provides that if a witness is ill or has something preventing him from attending, his testimony is heard where he is.
- Article 101At the accused's first appearance, the investigator must record his particulars, notify him of the charge, record his statements and have him sign them; a confession to a crime punishable by death, amputation or retaliation must be certified by the competent court.
- Article 102The article requires interrogation to take place in a state that does not affect the accused's will, bars making him swear an oath or coercing him, and does not allow interrogating him outside the investigating authority's premises except out of a necessity the investigator assesses.
- Article 103The article allows the investigator, in all cases, to decide that the person sought for investigation must appear, or to issue an order for his arrest if the circumstances of the investigation require it.
- Article 104The article specifies the particulars required in an order to appear, those added in an arrest and bringing-in order, and those further added in a detention order.
- Article 105The article provides that an order to appear is served by a bailiff or a public authority officer, with a copy delivered to the person if found, and otherwise to a member of his family of full legal capacity who lives with him.
- Article 106The article provides that the orders issued by the investigator are enforceable throughout the Kingdom.
- Article 107The article allows the investigator to issue an order to arrest and bring in the accused if he does not appear after being formally summoned without an acceptable excuse, if he is feared to flee, or if the crime is in flagrante delicto, even where detention is not permitted.
- Article 108The article requires an accused with no known place of residence to designate a place acceptable to the investigator, failing which the investigator may issue an order for his detention.
- Article 109The article requires the arrested accused to be interrogated immediately, failing which he is placed in the detention facility for no more than 24 hours, after which the head of the department is notified so that he is interrogated at once or released.
- Article 110An accused arrested outside the jurisdiction of the investigation department is brought to the investigation department where he was arrested, which verifies his particulars, informs him of the incident, records his statements and tells him where he will be transferred.
- Article 111If the accused objects to his transfer or his health condition does not allow it, the investigator is informed and must immediately issue his order as required.
- Article 112The article leaves the determination of the serious crimes that require detention to the Attorney General, after agreement with the Ministry of Interior and the Presidency of State Security, and requires it to be published in the Official Gazette.Amended
- Article 113The article requires the investigator to issue an order detaining the accused for no more than five days from the date of arrest, if the evidence against him in a serious crime is sufficient or the interest of the investigation requires his detention.
- Article 114The article regulates extending detention after five days up to 40 days, then up to 180 days in periods of no more than 30 days each, and anything beyond that by a reasoned judicial order from the court.
- Article 115The article requires the original detention order to be delivered to the head of the detention facility, who signs for receipt, and allows the detainee to file a grievance against his detention or its extension, to be decided within five days.
- Article 116The article requires everyone who is arrested or detained to be informed immediately of the reasons, and gives him the right to contact whomever he sees fit to inform him, under the supervision of the criminal investigation officer.
- Article 117The article bars execution of arrest, bringing-in or detention orders after six months from the date of their issue unless they are renewed for another period.
- Article 118The article bars the head of a prison or detention facility from allowing any public authority officer to contact the detainee except with written permission from the investigator, with the particulars of the meeting recorded in a special register.
- Article 119The article allows the investigator, if the interest of the investigation requires it, to order that the accused not contact other prisoners or detainees and that no one visit him for up to 60 days, without prejudice to his right to contact his agent or lawyer.
- Article 120The article allows the investigator at any time, on his own or at the accused's request, to release him if his detention has no justification, there is no harm to the investigation, and he is not feared to flee, on condition that he undertakes to appear.
- Article 121The article requires that, except in cases where release is mandatory, the accused be released only after designating a place the investigator approves.
- Article 122The article allows the investigator to issue a new order to arrest or detain the accused after release if the evidence becomes stronger, he breaches the conditions, or circumstances call for it.
- Article 123The article transfers the power to release or detain the accused to the court to which he is referred, deals with a judgment of lack of jurisdiction, and gives the public prosecutor the right to object to release.
- Article 124The article regulates closing the case for insufficient evidence or no ground to bring it, releasing the detainee, the order's enforceability, and giving reasons and notice to the private claimant or his heirs.
- Article 125The article provides that a closing decision does not prevent reopening the case and investigating it when new evidence appears that strengthens the accusation, and explains what new evidence means.
- Article 126The article requires the Bureau to bring the case before the competent court when the evidence is sufficient, by a statement of claim with specified particulars, and to notify the parties of the referral order within five days.
- Article 127The article regulates bringing related multiple crimes covered by the investigation, by a single order, before a court with local jurisdiction over one of them, or before the court with the wider jurisdiction.
الباب الخامس: المحاكمArticles 128–134
- Article 128The article provides that the criminal court has jurisdiction to decide all criminal cases, without prejudice to the jurisdiction of other courts.
- Article 129The article gives the general court the criminal court's jurisdiction in a town with no criminal court, unless the Supreme Judicial Council decides otherwise.
- Article 130The article determines the courts' local jurisdiction by the place where the crime occurred or the accused's place of residence, and if he has no known residence, by the place of his arrest.
- Article 131The article defines the place of the crime as every place in which any of its acts occurred, or in which a required act was omitted and physical harm resulted from the omission.
- Article 132The article gives the court hearing a criminal case jurisdiction to decide all issues on which the judgment in it depends, unless the Law provides otherwise.
- Article 133The article requires a criminal case to be stayed if the judgment in it depends on the outcome of another criminal case, until that case is decided.
- Article 134The article regulates conflict of jurisdiction between two courts over one crime or related crimes, by referring the request to designate the competent court to the Supreme Court.
الباب السادس: إجراءات المحاكمةArticles 135–191
- Article 135The article requires the accused to be summoned to appear before the court when the case is brought, and allows this to be dispensed with if he attends the session and the charge is put to him.
- Article 136The article sets the time to appear in a criminal case at no less than three days, allows reducing it to one hour under conditions, and obliges the court to give the accused sufficient time to prepare his defense.
- Article 137The article regulates serving the summons to appear on the accused himself or at his place of residence, and how to serve him if his place of residence cannot be found.
- Article 138The article provides that detainees or prisoners are notified through the head of the detention facility or prison, or whoever takes his place.
- Article 139The article requires the accused to appear in person in serious crimes, with his right to defense and to request a lawyer at state expense, and allows representation in other crimes, with the court entitled to order his attendance.
- Article 140Article 140 covers a defendant who was summoned but does not appear and sends no agent: the judge hears the case and evidence but rules only once the defendant attends, and may order detention if the absence is unexcused.
- Article 141Article 141 covers several defendants in one incident where some fail to appear: the judge hears the case and evidence against all and rules on the absent ones only after they appear.
- Article 142Article 142 gives the presiding judge control of the session, allows removal of anyone disrupting order, and permits jailing a person who refuses to comply for up to 24 hours, with the court able to reverse the order before the session ends.
- Article 143Article 143 allows the court to try a person who, during a session, commits an offense of assault against the court panel, a member or its staff, and to sentence that person in accordance with Sharia requirements after hearing the person's statements.
- Article 144Article 144 allows the court to rule on other offenses committed in the session, if it does not see fit to refer them to the Bureau, after hearing the offender's statements, unless they fall within another court's jurisdiction.
- Article 145Article 145 provides that offenses committed in the session that the court does not hear immediately are heard in accordance with the general rules.
- Article 146Article 146 refers the recusal and withdrawal of judges in criminal cases to the Law of Sharia Procedure, and bars a judge from hearing a case if the offense was committed against the judge outside session times.
- Article 147Article 147 gives a person harmed by an offense, and their heir, the right to claim the private right before the court hearing the public criminal case at any stage, even if the claim was not accepted during the investigation.
- Article 148Article 148 requires the criminal court to appoint a guardian for a harmed person who lacks full legal capacity and has no guardian or legal custodian, so that the guardian can claim the private right.
- Article 149Article 149 states against whom the private right claim is brought: the accused if of full capacity, or the guardian or legal custodian if not, and the court must appoint a guardian if there is none.
- Article 150Article 150 requires the claimant of the private right to designate a place in the town where the court is located, recorded at the court's administration; otherwise notifying the court administration counts as notifying the claimant.
- Article 151Article 151 provides that a private right claimant's abandonment of the claim does not affect the public criminal case.
- Article 152The article allows a person who has abandoned a private-right claim before the court hearing the public criminal case to continue it there, and prevents him from bringing it before another court.
- Article 153Article 153 allows a person who brought a compensation claim for harm from an offense before a competent court, after which the public criminal case was brought, to abandon it and bring it before the criminal court, unless pleadings have closed.
- Article 154Article 154 provides that court sessions are public, and permits the court, as an exception, to hear a case in closed sessions or bar certain categories of people from attending, for specified reasons.
- Article 155Article 155 requires a clerk to attend and write the minutes of the session under the presiding judge's supervision, specifies what the minutes must record, and who signs them.
- Article 156Article 156 requires the public prosecutor to attend court sessions on the public right in the offenses the Law's regulations specify, and requires the court to hear and rule on his statements.
- Article 157Article 157 provides that the accused attends sessions without restraints or shackles, may be removed only if conduct calls for it, and must be informed of what took place in the accused's absence.
- Article 158Article 158 provides that the court is not bound by the description of the act in the statement of claim, gives the act the description it deserves, and must inform the accused of any amendment.
- Article 159Article 159 permits the court to authorize the public prosecutor to amend the statement of claim unless the pleadings have been closed, with the accused informed and given sufficient opportunity to prepare a defense.
- Article 160Article 160 requires the court to direct the charge to the accused in the session, read the statement of claim, explain it and give the accused a copy, then ask for the accused's answer.
- Article 161Article 161 requires the court, when the accused confesses, to hear the accused's statements in detail and discuss them, and if satisfied they are true and no other evidence is needed, to be content with the confession.
- Article 162Article 162 requires the court, when the accused denies the charge or refuses to answer, to examine the evidence and interrogate the accused in detail, and lets each party discuss the other's evidence with the court's permission.
- Article 163Article 163 gives each litigant the right to ask that witnesses be heard, evidence considered and a particular investigation procedure carried out, and allows the court to reject the request if it aims at delay, malice or misleading, or is useless.
- Article 164Article 164 permits the court to summon any witness it considers needs to be heard or questioned again, and to hear anyone who attends of his own accord if that helps reveal the truth.
- Article 165Article 165 requires everyone called to give testimony by order of the judge to attend at the time and place specified, subject to what is established by Sharia for testimony in hudud cases.
- Article 166Article 166 provides that a witness who is proven to have made statements he knows are untrue is sentenced to ta'zir for the offense of false testimony.
- Article 167Article 167 provides that the statements of a witness who has not reached majority, or who is subject to an impediment, are not testimony though they may be heard, and regulates using someone who can communicate with a sick or severely disabled witness.
- Article 168Article 168 regulates giving testimony in the judicial session and hearing each witness separately, prohibits leading and indecent questions, and requires the court to protect witnesses from intimidation and disruption.
- Article 169Article 169 permits the court to travel to the scene of the offense or elsewhere to inspect, hear a witness unable to attend or verify a matter, with the litigants enabled to attend.
- Article 170Article 170 permits the court to order any person to produce something in his possession and to order the seizure of anything related to the case, and to keep what is submitted to it until the case is decided.
- Article 171Article 171 permits the court to assign an expert on a technical matter who submits a written report a copy of which the litigants may obtain, requires an interpreter for those who do not understand Arabic, and provides ta'zir for an expert or interpreter who deliberately defaults or lies.
- Article 172Article 172 permits each litigant to submit to the court in writing what he has that relates to the case, to be added to its file.
- Article 173Article 173 arranges pleading starting with the public prosecutor, then the accused, then the private right claimant, with the accused speaking last, and then the court rules and decides on the private right request.
- Article 174Article 174 permits the public prosecutor and the rest of the litigants to challenge any evidence in the case as forged, at any stage of the case.
- Article 175Article 175 requires a challenge as forged to be submitted to the court before which the case is pending, specifying the evidence challenged and the support for the forgery.
- Article 176Article 176 requires the court, if it sees a basis to verify the forgery, to refer the papers to the competent authority, and to stay the case if deciding it depends on the challenged paper.
- Article 177The article provides that the court orders discretionary punishment (ta'zir) of a person who alleged forgery if it rules that no forgery occurred and sees a basis for doing so.
- Article 178Article 178 provides that if the court rules that an official paper is forged in whole or in part, it orders it canceled or corrected as the case may be, and minutes are drawn up and noted on the paper.
- Article 179Article 179 requires the court to base its ruling on the evidence submitted to it during the hearing of the case, and bars the judge from ruling according to his own knowledge or contrary to his knowledge.
- Article 180Article 180 requires every ruling on the subject of the criminal case to decide the requests of the private right claimant or the accused, unless they require a special investigation that would delay the case, in which case they are deferred.
- Article 181Article 181 requires the criminal ruling to be read out publicly after it is signed, in the presence of the parties and participating judges, and specifies the particulars the judgment deed must contain.
- Article 182Article 182 requires every ruling to be recorded in the register of rulings, kept in the case file and a certified copy handed to the parties, and formally notified once it becomes final to whomever the court sees fit.
- Article 183Article 183 requires the court ruling on the subject to decide the litigants' requests about seized items, and permits it to refer the dispute to the competent court and to dispose of them during the case.
- Article 184Article 184 bars executing a ruling disposing of seized items before the ruling in the case is final unless they are perishable or costly to keep, and permits immediate handover against an undertaking.
- Article 185Article 185 permits the court to remove real property that is the subject of a possession offense and place it at its disposal during the case, and to return it to a person deprived of it by force when the offender is convicted, without prejudice to the rights of others.
- Article 186Article 186 bars bringing a new criminal case against an accused over the same acts and facts after a ruling on them, whether of conviction or not, and requires the court to observe this even if the litigants do not invoke it.
- Article 187Article 187 provides that every criminal procedure contrary to the provisions of Islamic Sharia or the laws derived from it is void.
- Article 188Article 188 provides that voidness resulting from violating the laws on the court's jurisdiction, as to its composition or competence, may be invoked at any stage and the court rules it even without a request.
- Article 189Article 189 requires the court to correct a correctable procedural defect, and to rule the procedure void if the defect cannot be corrected, in cases other than those of Article 188.
- Article 190Article 190 confines the effect of a procedure's voidness to that procedure alone: preceding procedures are not void, nor are following ones unless they were built on it.
- Article 191Article 191 requires the court to rule not to hear a case in which it finds a fundamental defect that cannot be corrected, without preventing it from being brought again if the legal conditions are met.
الباب السابع: طرق الاعتراض على الأحكام الاستئناف والنقض وإعادة النظرArticles 192–209
- Article 192Article 192 gives the convicted person, the public prosecutor and the private right claimant the right to request appeal or review of first-instance rulings, and requires the court to inform them of this right when pronouncing the ruling.
- Article 193Article 193 sets an appointment of at most ten days after the ruling is pronounced to receive a copy of the judgment deed, makes depositing it in the file, if the parties do not attend, the start of the objection period, and regulates handing it to a prisoner or detainee.
- Article 194Article 194 sets the objection period for requesting appeal or review at thirty days, after which the right lapses, and requires that rulings of death, stoning, amputation and retaliation be submitted to the court of appeal even if no one requests it.
- Article 195Article 195 sets the method of objecting by requesting appeal or review through a memorandum deposited with the administration of the court that issued the ruling, specifies its contents, and requires the administration to record it on the day it is deposited and refer it immediately to the circuit.
- Article 196Article 196 requires the circuit that issued the ruling to examine the objection memorandum, usually without pleading, then confirm its ruling and submit it to the court of appeal, or amend it and notify the litigants.
- Article 197Article 197 regulates the court of appeal's examination of the objection: setting a session if pleading, lapse of the right if the appellant is absent for 15 days, examining the file and new evidence, then upholding or quashing the ruling.
- Article 198Article 198 gives the convicted person, the public prosecutor and the private right claimant the right to object by requesting cassation before the Supreme Court against rulings of courts of appeal, in four specified cases.
- Article 199Article 199 sets the period for objecting by requesting cassation at thirty days, after which the right lapses, and requires rulings of death, stoning, amputation and retaliation to be submitted to the Supreme Court as soon as the period ends, even if no one requests it.
- Article 200The article sets out how to file a cassation objection by a memorandum lodged with the Court of Appeal, what it must contain, and the court's duty to register it the same day and send it to the Supreme Court within three days of the end of the objection period.
- Article 201The article requires the Supreme Court to examine the formal requirements of a cassation objection and whether the objector is entitled to file it, then decide to accept or reject it as to form, except in cases of homicide, stoning, amputation and retaliation.
- Article 202The article governs how the Supreme Court decides a cassation on the merits from the papers without examining the facts, by upholding the judgment or setting it aside and remitting it to different judges, and ruling on the merits itself after a second cassation.
- Article 203The article bars raising a ground before the Supreme Court that was not stated in the objection memorandum, unless it concerns public order, in which case the court takes it up on its own motion.
- Article 204The article lets any party request reconsideration of final judgments imposing a penalty in five defined cases, including the alleged murder victim appearing alive, forged evidence, or new evidence coming to light.
- Article 205The article regulates filing a reconsideration request by petition with the court that issued the judgment, referral to the upholding court if any, the decision to accept or reject it, and the right to object to a rejection.
- Article 206The article provides that acceptance of a reconsideration request does not stay execution of the judgment unless it imposes a corporal penalty of retaliation, a fixed penalty or a discretionary penalty, and otherwise allows the court to order a stay.
- Article 207The article requires every judgment of non-conviction issued on a reconsideration request to include moral and material compensation for the convicted person for the harm suffered, if he requests it.
- Article 208The article bars renewing a rejected reconsideration request when the renewal is based on the same facts on which the rejected request was founded.
- Article 209The article allows an appeal or cassation, as the case may be, against judgments issued on the merits of the case on a request for reconsideration by a court other than the Supreme Court.
الباب الثامن: قوة الأحكام النهائيةArticles 210–211
- Article 210The article defines final judgments as those that acquire finality by not being objected to within the legal period or by being upheld by, or issued by, the Supreme Court, subject to Articles 194 and 199.
- Article 211The article bars hearing a criminal case again after a judgment on its merits, except through an objection to the judgment as provided in the Law.
الباب التاسع: الأحكام الواجبة التنفيذArticles 212–217
- Article 212The article provides that criminal judgments may not be executed until they become final.
- Article 213The article requires the immediate release of a detained accused if he is found not guilty, sentenced to a penalty that does not require imprisonment, or has served the penalty during his detention.
- Article 214The article allows the court to postpone execution of a criminal judgment for substantial reasons and to suspend a discretionary prison sentence in the public right, with the suspension revocable if the convicted person commits an offense within 3 years.
- Article 215The article requires the period of detention to be counted against the prison term imposed, and gives anyone harmed by a malicious accusation or by prolonged imprisonment or detention the right to claim compensation.
- Article 216The article requires the court president to send an enforceable criminal judgment to the administrative governor, who must take the steps to execute it immediately.
- Article 217The article requires an order from the King or his delegate before judgments of death, amputation, stoning and retaliation are executed, and names the bodies whose representatives attend the execution of these judgments and of flogging.
الباب العاشر: أحكام ختاميةArticles 218–222
- Article 218The article refers to the Law of Sharia Procedure and the Law of Evidence on matters the Law does not address, so far as consistent with the nature of criminal cases, and permits electronic notification except for notifying prisoners and detainees.Amended M/43
- Article 219The article refers to the regulations of the Criminal Procedure Law the setting of the procedures and controls for executing criminal judgments.
- Article 220The article provides that the Council of Ministers issues the Implementing Regulations of the Law after they are prepared by four bodies, within a period not exceeding 90 days from the date the Law takes effect.
- Article 221The article provides that this Law replaces the Criminal Procedure Law issued by Royal Decree No. (M/39) dated 28/7/1422 AH and repeals any provisions that conflict with it.
- Article 222The article provides that the Criminal Procedure Law takes effect from the date of its publication in the Official Gazette.
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