Okaz/Saudi Gazette DAMMAM — Criminal courts in the Kingdom recorded a total of 1,091 defamation cases in 2015. A source from the Ministry of Justice said with the rise in defamation lawsuits following a case filed by the ministry to defend the integrity and honor of the Shoura Council member Latifa Al-Shaalan who was defamed on social media by a lawyer, the Supreme Judiciary Council is looking into appropriate procedures to deal with such cases. "The criminal courts are already receiving in file social media defamation cases considering them as cyber crimes. People are using social media websites such as Twitter and Facebook to unabashedly insult others and spread rumors about them. However, there is a need to study the rising incidence of such violations because there are no authentic statistics or clear procedures to follow," said the source. The source also said the acting head of the Supreme Judiciary Council Waleed Al-Samaani had already requested reports on social media defamation cases from 18 different criminal courts. "The head of Riyadh Criminal Court submitted a proposal to the Supreme Judiciary Council recommending the council to begin studying social media defamation. Some judges do not view defamation on social media as a crime," said the source. The source added judges view defamation on social media as a violation of the code of ethics advocated by the Ministry of Culture and Information and should be reported by regular netizens or the ministry itself. The Makkah province had the most cases of social media defamation with 261 cases, followed by the Eastern Province with 193 cases and Riyadh 197 cases. Defaming someone on social media could lead to imprisonment or a fine of up to SR500,000, said the source. The source also said the violator may be required to apologize publicly and may have his accounts disabled. The criminal courts also have the authority to ban the violator from using any particular social media.
