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RIYADH – The Supreme Judiciary Council has approved the establishment of commercial courts in Riyadh, Jeddah and Dammam and judiciary circuits within the General Courts consisting of three judges to look into commercial cases in Makkah, Madina, Hail, Buraidah, Tabuk, Abha, Najran, Baha, Arar and Sakaka.

Sheikh Abdullah Al-Yahya, Secretary General, said the Council reviewed the study conducted by the Courts Administration recommending the timetable to set up specialized commercial courts as part of the judicial reforms process initiated by King Abdullah, Cusdodian of the Two Holy Mosques.

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JEDDAH – Saudi Arabia is considering building a new port in the Red sea city of Jeddah to handle rising imports such as wheat and barley under a food security plan, an official said Wednesday.

Food security has topped the policy agenda in the Gulf Arab region following rampant inflation in 2008 that underscored the peninsulas dependence on imports and forced countries to invest abroad to ensure supplies of staples like rice and wheat.

Saudi Arabia has emerged as global buyer of wheat and is also trying with the help of private Saudi investors to secure farmland in Africa and elsewhere abroad to import more food.

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JIZAN – A municipality chairman was shot in the shoulder as he drove to work in Jizan on Tuesday. Police said they were seeking to establish the identity of the gunman and that the official had been taken to hospital where his condition was described as stable. – Okaz/SG

JEDDAH – The Ministry of Justice is considering launching internal investigations into six notary publics, some of them chief notaries, over “considerable violations” said to involve the approval of forged property title deeds, sources have said.

The sources said that the six are based in Dammam, Jeddah, Makkah, Rabegh, Yanbu and the Eastern Province, and that they were initially punished with transfers to other offices upon the discovery of violations committed “over a period of a few years”.

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NEW DELHI – The Riyadh Declaration signed between India and Saudi Arabia in Riyadh Monday will help to combat crime and terrorism, according to a senior security official in New Delhi.

He lauded the level of the security cooperation between the two countries.

“We are looking forward to more cooperation with the objective of strengthening further bilateral ties in the area of combating terrorism.”

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JEDDAH – The Saudi national air carrier, Saudi Arabian Airlines (SAA) said Sunday it transported some 509,713 passengers during the recent school holidays.
The airlines had earlier announced it would add 66 domestic and international flights to its operations schedule during the 10-day school spring break.
It also proclaimed it would increase the seating capacity on 56 international flights from the Kingdom to Dubai, Beirut, Doha, Cairo and Sharm El-Sheikh.
According to Abdullah Al-Ajhar, SAA’s Assistant Manager for Public Relations, some 3,775 flights carried these passengers.
He added that the school break witnessed an increase of about 105,252 passengers compared to the period a week before the break.
“SAA has succeeded in its operational plan during the spring break and has made necessary seats available to meet the travel demands during that short time,” Al-Ajhar said.
The official, who earlier said that SAA has no specific season, added that the national carrier prepares for the increasing demand on travel during holidays.
“Our offices and service centers are open to provide the best possible service that can reflect the high level of performance we have reached, and to mirror what care we offer to our customers” he said.
Al-Ajhar pointed out that 183,231 passengers were carried on 1,047 scheduled international flights while 316,952 passengers were transported on 2,639 scheduled domestic flights.
“Moreover, 47 additional international flights were operated. These carried some 3,484 travelers. On the other hand, there were 42 additional domestic flights that carried 6,046 passengers. We also increased the seating capacity of flight to Dubai, Beirut, Doha, Cairo and Sharm El-Sheikh,” Al-Ajhar said. – SG

MADINA – A police official in Madina has named the Arab who was arrested at the Prophets Mosque last Friday in possession of two knives as “Turki” and said that he is a resident of Riyadh who suffers from an “as yet unidentified mental illness” prompting “long periods of voluntary silence”.

Speaking to Al-Watan Arabic daily, the official who wished to remain anonymous cited a medical report from Riyadhs Mental Health Hospital and the individuals previous record of internment at Al-Amal Hospital before he was returned to his family after convalescence. The reports state that he has an unidentified illness provoking continued bouts of silence and a refusal to have any sort of contact with others.

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JIZAN – The spokesman for the Commission for the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice (the Hai’a) in Jizan has denied that a man recently sentenced to lashes for having six wives was a member of the organization.
Spokesman Muhammed Bin Ali Al-Adhabi told Al-Madina Arabic daily that the 56-year-old was not a security guard, as reported, “at any of the Hai’a offices” and that he has “no connection at all to the field or administrative work of the Commission”.
Al-Adhabi told Al-Madina that it was the Hai’a itself that arrested the man in Ahad Al-Masareha after they received information and located him at a furnished flat. During questioning contradictions were revealed in his statements and “deception” uncovered in a family identity card, Al-Adhabi said. He added that the court ruling of 120 lashes of the whip was final and had been approved by the Court of Cassation.
The court ruled that the sentence be carried out in three phases of 40 lashes, with a minimum of 15 days between each. The sentence also includes a five-year ban on travel abroad and also bans the convicted from giving sermons or leading prayer in mosques.
The convicted man claimed he was unaware that marriage to six wives simultaneously was against Shariah Law.
Neighbors of the man, however, say they had heard he had six wives and also believed him to be a member of the Hai’a.
“He used to lead prayer at the mosque in the village where he lived, and would go round in an official Hai’a car telling people to pray,” Khalid Al-Hukami told Al-Madina. “We’d heard about him, but didn’t think he would have had six wives at the same time, as here in the south lots of people have more than one wife and get married and divorced all the time.” – SG

JEDDAH – The Emirate of Makkah has decided to intervene in an acrimonious dispute between a local businessman and a mayoralty official over a valuable piece of beachfront property.

The businessman claims that his tourist resort includes a part of the beachfront which has allegedly been stolen from him by the mayoralty official.

The businessman claims the official did this by tampering with the blueprints of the property which has resulted in an encroachment on his land.

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JEDDAH – Cooperation between the Ministry of Haj and the Ministry of Interior and the introduction of new technology has seen a massive improvement in services provided for Umrah pilgrims.

This has also seen a reduction in the number of people who overstay their visas, squatting, begging and other criminal behavior, according to a senior Ministry of Haj official.

In a recent interview with Okaz, Deputy Minister of Haj for Umrah Affairs Dr. Isa Rawwas said that there has been greater government control over Haj and Umrah companies and the services provided for pilgrims. This was also to eliminate security and other organizational problems.

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