A culture of legal awareness needs to be raised in Kingdom

DAMMAM: Saudi society lacks or is weak in the culture of rights despite the existence of numerous rules and regulations that protect these rights, and deal with their violations.
Khalid Al-Fakhri, secretary general of the National Society for Human Rights, said that raising individuals’ awareness levels of their rights and duties is highly significant, confirming that the society has specialized law cadres to provide advice for citizens after studying the case, and might assign a lawyer to plead for the oppressed due to financial conditions, etc.
Al-Fakhri said that the main objective of the society is to support human rights, which include judicial help, calling all legal domain staff to spread legal awareness through all available channels, and allocate a portion of their time to serve the community through free consultations.
He said: “Many lawyers have begun offering their volunteer services through social networks, so that no one loses his rights out of ignorance of laws and regulations. Actually, I receive many inquiries on Twitter and provide the appropriate advice.”
Moreover, lawyer and legal consultant Osamah Al-Qahtani said: “The state is committed to helping the accused in all crimes through assigning lawyers for them in case they were not able to do so, in accordance with the legal aid program of the Ministry of Justice.”
He said: “There is a new draft regulation on legal aid under study, which may include criminal offenses, presumably with limits and conditions applied internationally. In some developed countries, the state provides a lawyer in criminal cases for those who do not have the financial capacity, and I think that the Ministry of Justice has seen multiple models in this regard.”
Al-Qahtani said lawyers’ bodies and associations in many countries provide volunteer legal support programs, such as providing consultations at specific hours, guiding those who are in legal need. In the Kingdom, there are multiple channels for legal consultations, such as the Human Rights Commission, and some charities that offer advice on family issues.
On the importance of a lawyer, lawyer Khaled Abu Rashed said: “Legal culture awareness is not a substitute for a lawyer who is more knowledgeable about law, because lawyers are specialized in law and all related systems and regulations,” noting that the individual has the right to proceed with his case himself, but consulting a lawyer is necessary, especially with regard to the competent courts and the regulatory formulation.
Ministry of Justice Spokesman Mansour Al-Qaffari said: “The system allows the accused in major crimes to ask the Ministry of Justice to entrust to him a lawyer under Article 139 of the Criminal Procedure Law,” explaining that this includes criminal offenses and terrorism crimes.