Pregnant women, nursing mothers and other ailing people have been proposed to be exempted from spending time in jail. In addition, debtors have been proposed to be housed in separate prison wards away from the area meant to house convicted criminals. These proposals form part of the new legal proceedings for the execution of judicial verdicts approved by the Shoura (Consultative) Council A member of the Shoura Council contacted by Saudi Gazette said 25 members voted against the new executive justice system. “The new system also includes many rules that distinguish between people who have the ability to repay the money they have borrowed and those who cannot pay their debts due to their financial condition. The same rules will be applied to all of them without looking at their financial means.” The same law also exempts debtors from imprisonment if they provide a medical report showing they are suffering from a disease that would be dangerously exacerbated by prison life. In line with this law, those who obstruct the execution of verdicts or impair justice would be referred to punitive courts. The law stipulates that civil servants who prevent or impair the execution of verdicts will be sentenced to 7 years in prison. Those debtors who obtained money by deceptive means will be in prison for a maximum period of 15 years. __
