DETENTION/HEARINGS

• If you have information on the detention of a Filipino, please inform the Consulate General immediately at 0555-219-613
• If you are arrested, request the police authorities to contact the Consulate General and inform us of your detention. You may request the presence of a Consulate Representative during the investigation.(Art. 4 Saudi Law of Criminal Procedures)
• Once detained, inform the Consulate General of your hearing, if possible, so that you could be assisted.

At the time of arrest :

• Call the nearest Embassy or Consulate to inform of the arrest at 0555-219-613
• Call your friends and co-workers and request them to report to the Consulate that you have been arrested;
• Always keep a list of  contact numbers in your bag

Know your rights:

• No person shall be arrested, searched, detained and imprisoned except in cases provided by law to be done in places designated for such purposes and for periods prescribed by competent authorities.
• You should not be subjected to bodily and moral harm.  You should not be subjected to torture and degrading treatment.
• When you are arrested, you  have the right to a lawyer or a representative of the Embassy or Consulate to represent you and assist  during the investigation and trial stage;

During investigation:

• Never admit the crime if you are innocent;
• Ask for a Consulate representative to be present during the investigation;
• Never sign any document which you cannot read and understand
• Request the police to call the Consulate for assistance

While detained at the police station:

• Request the police for visit by a Consulate representative;
• If you have a cell phone, call your friends and request to report your detention to the Consulate;
• Most likely, if the police cannot extract any information, they will call the Consulate for assistance;

When taken into custody by prison authorities;

• When being investigated by Saudi authorities, do not volunteer any information if not asked; limit your statements to facts;
• Deny statements  or acts which you have not said or done;
• Wait for the visit of Consulate representative/s and be ready for the interview; Always tell the truth when questioned by Consulate representative/s for this will help them to analyze what course of action to take on your case;
• Do not keep any vital information when questioned by Consulate representative;

When taken to the Prosecutor's Office or Court:

• Request the prison authorities to inform the Consulate of the
• date  and time of the hearing;
• In case the Consulate representative is not present, request the jail   guard to take the name and room number of the judge;
• Ask for the Case No. and other important information which you can later give to the Consulate;
• Do not answer any question if you do not understand the question during the court proceedings; request for a court interpreter;
• Request the interpreter to explain to you what the judge says or what is written in the record book before signing any document inside the court.

While waiting for court sentence:

• Visit your Saudi case officer from time to time for updates o your case; tell her you have the right to know what is going on with your case otherwise, you will inform the Consulate about their refusal to provide you with information;
• Wait for the Consulate representative to visit and course your letters to your family and other requests thru her/him;
• Request the Consulate representative to follow-up your case or provide her/him if you any important information relative to your case;

During the imposition of the sentence:

• Be attentive and listen very well during the proceedings of the trial;
• If the court will ask you if you agree to the sentence imposed on you, make sure the court interpreter has explained the verdict to you before agreeing; if you do not agree
• Do not sign anything if you do not agree on the sentence given to you;
• Ask for a re-trial or make an appeal on your case if you are not satisfied with the sentence;
• You are entitled to appeal the sentence imposed on you within 30 days;
• During the visit of the Consulate representative, request assistance to prepare your appeal to the Tameez Court;

When appealing for your case:

• Make sure you retain a copy of your letter of appeal before submission to the court;
• Wait for the decision of the Tameez Court;
• Request Consulate representative to make representation with Saudi concerned authorities for the speedy deliberation on your appeal thru Note to SMFA.

What you need to know about arrests and detention

Common Offenses in Saudi Arabia

• Drinking, selling or manufacturing alcohol
• Caught with boyfriends/girlfriends
• Possession of pornographic materials
• Soliciting sex.
• Using or selling drugs
• Gambling, Lotto, Sabong
• Theft
• Using fake documents
• Embezzlement in various forms
• Bribery

Arrest and Detention

• The vast majority of Filipinos in the Kingdom are productive and law-abiding residents of the Kingdom. Be that as it may, a knowledge of Saudi rules on arrest is beneficial for Filipinos to protect their rights.

GENERAL RULES

• No person shall be arrested, searched, detained, imprisoned except in cases provided by law to be done in places designed for such purposes and for periods prescribed by competent authorities. (Art. 2) ??????? Criminal Procedure Law
• Arrested person should NOT be
• Subjected to bodily harm, moral harm, torture or degrading treatment. (Art 2)
• Any accused person has the right to a lawyer or a representative to represent him during investigation and trial stages (Art 4)
• Sentences are appealable by the convicted person or by the prosecutor. (Art 9)

THE BASIC RULE ON ARREST: NO PERSON SHALL BE  ARRESTED EXCEPT ON BASIS OF ORDER FROM A COMPETENT AUTHORITY

The Saudi Criminal Procedures provides two instances for an arrest to be made:

• Based upon a warrant of arrest issued by a competent authority
• For acts committed in flagrante delecto (caught in the act)

Rights of arrested person:

• To be treated decently
• Not to be subjected to bodily harm
• Not to be subjected to moral harm
• To be advised on the reason of his detention
• To be entitled to communicate with any person of his choice to inform him of his arrest.
• To be imprisoned or detained only in places designated for such purpose.
• A prisoner or detainee shall have the right to submit, at any time, a written or verbal complaint to the prison or detention center officer and request that he communicate it to a member of the Bureau of Investigation and Prosecution and detention authorities must provide the prisoner or detainee an acknowledgement of receipt.

The Consulate could become the representative of an accused because International Law grants the Consulate  certain Consular Powers with respect to representing Filipinos

Consular Functions

The 1963 Geneva Convention on Consular Relations specify consular functions as consisting of:

• Protecting the interest of Filipinos within limits permitted by international law (art.  5,  par (a))
• Helping and assisting Filipinos (art. 5, par (e))
• Representing or arranging representation to Filipinos before tribunals and other authorities for purposes of obtaining, in accordance with law, provisional measures for the preservation of rights and interest of Filipinos when Filipinos are at that time unable to protect their rights or interests (art. 5, par (i))

In addition, it is assumed that:

• Consular officers shall have free access to Filipinos, and Filipinos should have free access to Consular officers (art 36, par (a))
• If the Filipino so requests, authorities shall inform, without delay, inform the Consulate that the Filipino is arrested, committed to prison, under custody pending trial or is detained in any manner. Such communication should be relayed without delay and the Filipino should be informed without delay that he has such right to communicate.
• Consular officers shall have the right to visit a Filipino who is in prison, custody or detention and to converse and correspond with him to arrange legal representation.

QISAS AND DIYYA OR BLOOD MONEY

What is Qisas?

• Qisas - meaning retaliation, and following the biblical principle of "an eye for an eye."
• Qisas (Arabic) is an Islamic term meaning retaliation, similar to the biblical principle of an eye for an eye. In the case of murder, it means the right of the heirs of a murder victim to demand execution of the murderer.
• O you who believe, equivalence is the law decreed for you when dealing with murder - the free for the free, the slave for the slave, the female for the female. If one is pardoned by the victim's kin, an appreciative response is in order, and an equitable compensation shall be paid. This is an alleviation from your Lord and mercy. Anyone who transgresses beyond this incurs a painful retribution.[1][2]^ Sura 2, (Al-Baqarah) 178

However, the Quran also prescribes that one should seek compensation (Diyya) and not demand retribution.[3]
As execution for murder was conceived as the retaliation of the victim's heirs, traditionally the state could only carry out the execution with their permission, and they were free to forgive the murderer, either as an act of charity or in return for compensation.

What is Diyya?

• Diyya - compensation paid to the heirs of a victim. In Arabic the word means both blood money and ransom.  Diyaa is part of private rights due to the victim(s), and could not be waived by the sovereign.

In Saudi Arabia, when a person has been killed or caused to die by another, the prescribed blood money rates are as follows[7]:

• 100,000 riyals if the victim is a Muslim man
• 50,000 riyals if a Muslim woman
• 50,000 riyals if a Christian man
• 25,000 riyals if a Christian woman
• 6,666 riyals if a Hindu man
• 3,333 riyals if a Hindu woman.

The amount of compensation is based on the percentage of responsibility. Blood money is to be paid not only for murder, but also in case of unnatural death, interpreted to mean death in a fire, industrial or road accident, for instance, as long as the responsibility for it falls on the causer.

Hadd or Huddud and Tazir Crimes

What are Huddud crimes?

Hudud (also transliterated hadud, hudood; singular hadd, liter

al meaning "limit", or "restriction") is the word often used in Islamic literature for the bounds of acceptable behaviour and the punishments for serious crimes. In Islamic law or Sharia, hudud usually refers to the class of punishments that are fixed for certain crimes that are considered to be "claims of God." They include theft, fornication, consumption of alcohol, and apostasy.

Hudud offenses are defined as "claims of God," and therefore the sovereign was held to have a responsibility to punish them. All other offenses were defined as "claims of [His] servants," and responsibility for prosecution rested on the victim. This includes murder, which was treated as a private dispute between the murderer and the victim's heirs. The heirs had the right to compensation and to demand execution of the murderer (see qisas), but they could also choose to forgive.

• Theft (sariqa,)
• Highway robbery (qat' al-tariq,)
• Illegal sexual intercourse (zina')
• False accusation of zina' (qadhf,) [3]
• Drinking alcohol (sharb al-khamr)(Unlike the first four offences listed above , not all jurists consider drinking alcohol to be a hudud offense.)[4]
• Apostasy ( ridda,) includes blasphemy. (Unlike the first four offenses listed above, not all jurists consider apostasy to be a hudud offense.[citation needed])

What are punishments for Huddud crimes?

The punishments vary according to the status of the offender - Muslims generally receive harsher punishments than non-Muslims, free people receive harsher punishments than slaves, and in the case of zina', married people receive harsher punishments than unmarried.
In brief, the punishments include:

• Capital punishments - by sword/crucifixion (for highway robbery with homicide), by stoning (for zina' when the offenders are mature, married Muslims)
• Amputation of hands or feet (for theft and highway robbery without homicide)
• Flogging with a varying number of strokes (for drinking, zina' when the offenders are unmarried or not Muslims, and false accusations of zina')

What are Tazir crimes?

In Islamic Law, tazir (or ta'zir, Arabic) refers to punishment, usually corporal, that can be administered at the discretion of the judge, as opposed to the hudud (singular: hadd), the punishments for certain offenses that are fixed by the Qur'an or Hadith. Traditionally, ta'zir punishments could be applied to offenses for which no punishment is specified in the Qur'an. They could also be applied to hadd offenses in situations where the standards of proof required for hudud punishments could not be met.

There are basically three categories of punishments in Shari`ah:

Hadd

The first is Hadd, which includes divinely prescribed forms of fixed punishment based upon the Qur'an and Sunnah. These are punishments set to preserve the public interest; they cannot be lightened nor made heavier, nor can the offender be pardoned. They instill a deep feeling of abhorrence in the society towards the crime for which the offender has been punished. Such crimes include drinking alcohol, armed robbery, theft, illicit sexual relations, apostasy, and slanderous accusations of promiscuity.

Qisas

The second form is called Qisas, which is the punishment for homicide and assault. Whenever a person causes physical harm or death to another, the injured or family of the deceased has the right to retaliation. A unique aspect of Qisas, is that the victim's family has the option to insist upon the punishment, accept monetary recompense, or forgive the offender, which could even avert capital punishment. This leaves the door open to compassion and forgiveness. Settlements are therefore encouraged outside of court, as a judge must exact the punishment.

Ta'zir

All other crimes fall into the third category, Ta`zir, which is a discretionary punishment decided by the court. So, in the light of this, one cannot just brandish Islamic penal codes as being too harsh or inhumane while neglecting the fact that the source of those penal codes is the Mighty Lord, the Supreme Lord of the Universe. Everything with Him has been measured with absolute perfection. This perfection is reflected in the strict procedures laid down before a person can be convicted and punished. Actually, all forms of punishment stipulated by Shari`ah are more reforming and more successful in preventing recurrent crime than the man-made legal systems whose futility is proved and confirmed by daily incessant crimes, with prisons becoming homes to homosexuality and schools for harboring criminal behavior.

Based, with slight modifications, on "Punishment in Islam: An Eye For An Eye?" Al-Haramain Online Newsletter, Volume 4, Issue 8, 1st Rabi` Ath-Thani 1421 A.H. (July 2000).