Article 24 of the Saudi Emergency Law

This article gives individuals and businesses judicial review of decisions issued in application of emergency orders, so that these decisions are not beyond challenge.

Competent body: the competent administrative court.

Type of action: annulment actions against decisions relating to applying the provisions of the emergency orders. The article expressly includes decisions relating to the validity of:

• Arrest or imprisonment.
• House arrest.
• Confiscation.
• Taking property into possession.
• Suspending an activity or part of it, or restricting it.

The phrase «including» means these are examples, so the court's jurisdiction extends to other decisions relating to applying the emergency orders.

Means of challenging the judgment: judgments issued by the court may be appealed and objected to by cassation, in accordance with the provisions set out in the regulations. A first-instance judgment of the administrative court is therefore not necessarily final.

Note the difference between the annulment action here, which aims to invalidate the decision itself, and the claim for compensation in Articles 22 and 23, which aims to redress financial harm through the assessment committees and then an objection before the administrative court.

Article 25 follows, requiring the administrative court to decide these actions within no more than 15 days of their registration, subject to completing the procedural requirements. Anyone subject to one of these decisions who wants to challenge it can consult a lawyer who specializes in administrative cases without delay.