RIYADH — Saudi Arabia's decision to abolish flogging as a form of punishment has been met with widespread welcome from many corners. "This reform is a momentous step forward in Saudi human rights agenda and merely one of many recent reforms in the Kingdom," said Dr. Awwad Al-Awwad, president of the Saudi Human Rights Commission on Friday. The Saudi National Society for Human Rights (NSHR) also welcomed the move. The General Commission for the Saudi Supreme Court recently took the landmark decision to end flogging as a form of punishment and to be replaced by prison sentences, fines or of both. "The decision is an extension of the human rights reforms introduced under the direction of Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Salman and the direct supervision of Crown Prince Muhammad Bin Salman," the commission said. Flogging has been applied to punish a variety of crimes in the Kingdom. There are cases under which individual judges have the latitude to interpret religious texts and come up with their own sentences. Welcoming the decision, Dr. Mufleh Al-Qahtani, president of NSHR, noted that this decision comes within the framework of restricting the judge's authority to impose flogging as a punishment, as it was noticed that some judges had exceeded the limit of the legal and juristic texts over the past years. "It is known that the disciplinary punishment for which there is no specific provision in the Islamic Shariah differs from the capital punishment, in which the judge does not have freedom to take a legal decision by independent interpretation of the law. The new decision will give the judges options to award penalties other than flogging and that may contribute to reforming the perpetrator and benefit the community as well," he said while speaking to Asharq Al-Awsat newspaper. Al-Qahtani said the decision will represent a qualitative shift for the Saudi judiciary with regard to awarding punishment. "We hope that this decision will accompany the approval of many alternative penalties in addition to imprisonment and fine, as this would contribute to improving the image of the Kingdom abroad especially when some people resort to criticizing the Kingdom in the name of adopting flogging as a form of punishment." Dr. Muhammad Al-Jadlani, a judge and lawyer, said that there are two types of flogging. The first type is the one about which there is a specific mention in the Islamic Shariah such as the flogging of an unmarried man involved in adultery, and there cannot be any replacement for this penalty. The second is taazir, the form of punishment about which there is no specific provision in the Islamic Shariah. Al-Jadlani said that the decision to abolish flogging came after taking into account several factors, including wider scope and lack of variation in the provisions of flogging. "The ruling for flogging has always been a matter of criticism mainly because of the reckless use of this provision by various judges. Some judges award 100 lashes for some crimes while some others award less than 100 lashes for much severe crimes," he said while attributing this to a lack of specific criterion for this. He also commented on the observations of some human rights organizations and bodies that see that flogging is incompatible with human rights and dignity, saying that the Kingdom's position in this regard is the position of the Islamic Shariah. Kingdom will reject altogether anything that is contrary to either the provisions of the Islamic Shariah or the policy of the country. The Kingdom has local human rights organizations and associations that are in harmony with international human rights organizations provided they are compatible with the fundamental Islamic principles. Flogging exists in the laws of many Islamic and non-Islamic countries, and is not linked to only Islam, Al-Jadlani said while citing the example of Singapore and Malaysia.
