Saudi ministry gets press spokesman

Riyadh: In what is seen as a move to silence voices criticising the ministry's conflicting statements, the Saudi Ministry of Justice has announced that it is planning to appoint an official spokesman.

The ministry has come under attack from the media in regard to its handling of various cases under its jurisdiction. Saudi local newspaper columnists have repeatedly called for the appointment of a spokesman for the ministry.

These calls became louder after what observers say were conflicting statements by the ministry regarding last year's notorious rape trial of a girl in the eastern part of the kingdom.

The 19-year-old girl, known in the media as "the Qatif girl", in reference to the city of Qatif in the eastern province, was abducted and later raped by a group of seven young men. She was sentenced to a jail term and lashes, a matter that aroused a wave of sympathy among writers and internet bloggers. The girl was later pardoned by the Saudi monarch.

However, the ministry denied that its fresh plan to appoint a spokesman was the result of the critical voices of its performance.

"For some time we have been thinking of this matter [appointing a spokesman] as we are keen to improve the ministry's image and at the same time provide the media and the public with correct, rumour-free and fabrication-free statements," Abdullah M. Al Shihry, advisor at the ministry, told Gulf News.

In the past few years, the Saudi justice system in which judges have considerable discretion in issuing rulings for defendants, who often have no legal representation, has come under attack in both the local and foreign media as well as by human rights organisations.

Last year King Abdullah Bin Abdul Aziz announced a package of reforms for the judiciary. The decision allocated 7 billion Saudi riyals (Dh7 billion) to overhaul the judiciary.

The money will be spent on the appointment of qualified cadres, training of staff and the building and renovation of court buildings, among other things.