The King Abdullah Bin Abdul Aziz Project for Developing the Judiciary (Adl or Justice) in the Kingdom will be launched in Riyadh Sunday in the presence of Sheikh Abdullah Aal Al-Sheikh, Minister of Justice and Khalid Al-Anqari, Minister of Higher Education. The SR7 billion project, supervised by King Fahd University for Petroleum and Minerals (KFUPM) in Dhahran, aims at achieving three major goals – preparing a strategic plan for the ministry for the coming 20 years (2009 to 2029) to develop the judiciary, preparing an executive plan for the first five years, and laying down mechanisms for periodic reviews of developing a strategy for the plan. Also taken into consideration in the strategic plan are issues such as human resources, organizational structures, judicial procedures, systems and models, judicial environment and judicial culture. Several experts in the judicial field in the Kingdom have said that this decision will lead to a reorganization and modernization of the judicial system. Dr. Rashed Al-Hazza', President of the Jeddah General Courts, said the new system aims at keeping pace with the latest developments, especially unifying the different judicial departments under the Ministry of Justice and distributing specialization among the courts and levels of litigation. It also provides an equal opportunity for all verdicts to be verified through the Supreme Court. Sheikh Turki Rashed Al-Abdul Kareem, legal adviser, and Naif Al-Shihri, member of the Commission for Investigation and Prosecution, said the system guarantees independence, strength and integrity of the judiciary. It is a landmark in the process of comprehensive reform, he said, stressing that the restructuring of the judiciary and the appearance of specialized courts lays the cornerstone for a judiciary policy that will expedite procedures in handing down verdicts. Sheikh Osama Al-Mirdas, President of the Second Notary Public Office in Taif, said the development of the judicial system has been preceded by numerous contributions to the development of the judiciary since its modern inception in the country in 1925 during the era of the late King Abdul Aziz. Sheikh Abdul Ilah Al-Ajlan, legal adviser, said the new judicial system contains decisive articles. He said it includes many organizational matters that the previous system did not deal with, and the new system also restricts unfounded litigations.
