Article 29 of the Saudi Emergency Law

This article sets the procedural framework for prosecuting crimes of violating the Emergency Law or emergency orders, and contains two provisions:

1. The procedural law that applies: the Law of Criminal Procedure applies to the public criminal action in these crimes. The public criminal action is the action brought in the name of society to impose punishment on the violator. The article does not itself state the provisions of the Law of Criminal Procedure.

2. The competent body: the Public Prosecution is responsible for three things:

• Investigating these crimes.
• Bringing the public criminal action.
• Pursuing it before the competent court.

The practical effect is that crimes connected with a state of emergency, despite their exceptional character, follow the usual criminal path as regards the investigating body and the procedural law. The crimes intended are those punishable under Article 27: violating the provisions of the Law and violating emergency orders.

This criminal path differs from the administrative path in Article 24, which concerns annulment actions against decisions relating to applying emergency orders before the administrative court. The path here concerns punishing the violator, whereas that one concerns the injured person's challenge to the decision.

Article 30 follows, allowing emergency orders to include special periods and procedures for hearing these crimes within the limits required by the nature of the state of emergency, provided this does not prejudice the safeguards set out in the relevant laws. Anyone summoned for investigation in a crime connected with a state of emergency can consult a lawyer who specializes in criminal cases.