RIYADH — Minister of Justice and President of the Supreme Judiciary Council Dr. Walid Al-Samaani urged judges to be impartial and stay away from their whims and fancies while examining cases and pronouncing judgments. He emphasized that judges shall uphold core values such as objectivity, honesty, sensibility, responsibility, good handling, and continuing education. The minister made the remarks during his meeting with the newly appointed judges in various courts across the Kingdom on Tuesday. Al-Samaani lauded the support and care of the Saudi leadership for the judicial sector, saying that this has been instrumental in strengthening the development of the judiciary and enabling it to reach an unprecedented phase of improvement. Al-Samaani stressed the need to take care of the preliminary ruling and then activate the appellate judiciary. "The ruling issued by the Court of First Instance became a final exit for the court with regard to handling the case, and the consideration of the Appeal Court remains a meticulous scrutiny of the case, especially the complicated cases," he said while pointing out that professional work includes challenges and difficulties, and the assumption that judicial work does not include challenges is an assumption that is not based on reality. The minister highlighted that the work of the President of the Supreme Judiciary Council and all members of the judiciary is to serve the beneficiaries and deliver them justice. The judge's work is to deliver justice for litigants without harming anyone, whether it is the plaintiff or the defendant in the exercise of the judicial procedures. Al-Samaani stressed the need for the judge, in the beginning of his work, to determine the priorities and focus on them, and to start with himself and the duties entrusted to him. "The judge's primary task is understanding reality, because the error in reality results in the error in applying the law," he said. Al-Samaani emphasized that the judge must apply the statutory procedures to all cases, without any discrepancy, in addition to the fact that the first responsibility in independence rests with the judge himself, and his first duty is to protect the judiciary from his own whims and shortcomings, as well as from his lack of qualifications.
