JEDDAH — Several lawyers have asked the Ministry of Justice to open court sessions to the public and the media, Al-Hayat newspaper reported. They said most lawyers complained about a big discrepancy in court rulings and their cases and felt that they were being marginalized even though their role was to help judges to get to the bottom of the truth. This has led some lawyers to abandon their career for other professions that provide them with a better income and prestige. Lawyer Ibrahim Zamzami explained that members of the Bureau of Investigation and Public Prosecution and judicial consultants should be allowed to attend court proceedings as they have the experience, expertise and knowledge on pertinent issues. He said there are many issues that hinder the success of the Ministry of Justice, such as delays in hearings in cases that are detrimental to the parties involved. Some court hearings scheduled to be held after a month are delayed up to four months because of flimsy reasons like the judge is on vacation, although regulations stipulate the gap between two court hearings in case should not be more than a month, Zamzami said. Naif Al-Sharif, professor of mercantile law at King Abdulaziz University, said both judges and the lawyers should respect the rules and the rights of all parties. He pointed out that the gap between lawyers and judges, and depriving lawyers of their rights, is due to an old culture and will take a long time until judges appreciate the viewpoint of the lawyers. “This necessitates speedy enactment of a lawyer's commission to preserve the rights of lawyers and put an end to some judges' supremacy over lawyers,” he said. Al-Sharif added that this commission should be entrusted with issuing sanctions against violating lawyers in extreme situations. He pointed out that the Ministry of Justice is responsible for issuing licenses to lawyers to practice their profession and, therefore, criticizing judges may be considered a criticism of the ministry itself. “One of the disadvantages of not having a lawyers commission results in the lack of specialized lawyers, as some Shariah lawyers are pleading judicial cases and vice versa. Such a commission will recognize the lawyers' specializations, similar to the judges' specializations,” he said. He explained that the Ministry of Justice wants to do everything, such as supervising the work of judges and lawyers and investigations and believes that this is a large area that the ministry cannot deal with alone. Omar Al-Kholi, professor of law at King Abdulaziz University, explained that the lawyers' situation is below expectations and the reason for this is the issuance of the lawyers' law and the executive regulations that followed. “Whoever drafted the regulations was prejudiced against lawyers and, in my opinion, this is narrowing and limiting lawyers' role in various ways,” he said. Al-Kholi pointed out that the relationship between lawyers and judges is tense, as some judges have negative views of lawyers. A lawyer, who preferred to remain anonymous, said that there are several violations occurring in courts, most notably the courts of appeal that have not been properly activated in accordance with the laws of Shariah trials. “Such laws stipulate that there should be another review of the case with the presence of the plaintiff and the defendant, but what is actually happening is that the appeals court only receives the documents, which include the appeal decision, and disregards statements of the plaintiff and the defendant and any other evidence that may be beneficial to decide the case,” he said. He criticized the Ministry of Justice for employing young judges who do not have full knowledge of the profession and are impulsive to the point of being arrogant because they were employed in this position at a relatively young age. He pointed out that experienced judges were transferred to appeals courts that were established in various parts of the country in the past few years, forcing the ministry to appoint young and less-experienced judges in general courts. The lawyer said judges are issuing sentences at their discretion and suggested that there should be an electronic encyclopedia of judicial decisions that were issued in the country's courts to serve as a reference for judges.
