The seventh annual report of the National Society for Human Rights (NSHR) has revealed that it last year received 130 complaints about the courts, four of which were against the Bureau of Grievances. There were 67 complaints against court verdicts, 31 on lengthy court procedures, 22 asking for reconsideration of verdicts, six complaints about mistreatment by some judges and four complaints about applications for compensation. There were 98 civil and legal complaints filed by men and 32 by women. There were 117 Saudi complaints, followed by three from Egyptians and two each from Sudanese, Yemenis and Palestinians. Americans, Somalis, Pakistanis and Jordanians filed one complaint each. Dr. Mufleh Al-Qahtani, Chairman of the rights body, said, “The NSHR receives different complaints from applicants. Some applicants complain about slow legal procedures while some about the absence of defendants who do not appear in courts. Some feel injustice over court verdicts and some about the absence of judges because they were transferred to another city.” The NSHR phones the body against which a complaint has been filed, listens to what officials say and tries to solve the issue, Al-Qahtani added. “The NSHR has contributed to finding solutions for many issues,” he said. Al-Qahtani said that the development of Higher Judicial Council and Ministry of Justice procedures has contributed positively to cutting down on the number of complaints. __
