RIYADH — Saudi Arabia's Minister of Justice Dr. Walid Al-Samaani reiterated that a judge has no discretionary power to apply his independent reasoning (ijtihad) in matters in which there are specific legal texts. "The judge's ruling should be based on fact and there is no scope for independent reasoning in matters in which there is a legal text. The judicial regulations have given judges options to look at the reality and choose what suits them from the legal point of view," he said in an address to judges in a video broadcast on the ministry's Twitter account. Al-Samaani noted that the value of justice lies in raising proper awareness about the judicial system in the minds of people and individuals, and then they measure its realization through the judiciary. This must be followed in court procedures as well as in the interaction of judges, and in the outputs of the judicial authorities and in their judgments. He said that the ministry is seeking to facilitate judicial work in a massive way through technology.
