Fatima Al-Dubais
DAMMAM — The families of an expatriate who is murdered in Saudi Arabia will be considered relinquishing their private rights if they fail to attend court sessions on time, according to judicial sources.
The sources said the ministries of justice, interior and foreign affairs have agreed to rule on the public rights without waiting for the claimant of the private right to come to the Kingdom from abroad.
They said families of the expatriates murdered in the Kingdom can demand their private rights at their own homes to prevent accumulation of such cases in the Kingdom.
The sources said the three ministries agreed to let the expatriate murderer go home after serving his jail sentence and to set the Saudi murderer free on completing his jail term.
The ministries have also agreed that the courts should consider the murder cases in which expatriates are involved not less than three months after receiving the list of charges from the Bureau of Investigation and Public Prosecution (BIP) so as to enable the families of the murdered foreigners to arrive in the Kingdom to attend court proceedings.
The sources said during this interval, the foreign ministry should inform the families of the murdered foreigners via their diplomatic missions about the trial date so as to arrive in the Kingdom on time.
According to sources, the foreign ministry will send an urgent memo to the embassy of the victim to ask the families of the murdered persons to attend the trial on time or appoint a lawyer to represent them. They said if the families failed to arrive in person or appoint lawyers to represent they they will lose their right to claim the private right in the Kingdom but may do that at their respective homes.
The sources said if the families could not arrive personally on time or give power of attorney to lawyers, the court will continue to consider the case from its public right aspect.
They said inheritors of an expatriate victim can demand their private rights as long as the Saudi murderer is in prison but if he is set free they can only demand this right at their homes.
On the other hand, the Interior Ministry has asked all governorates to inform the foreign ministry of the name, nationality, place of work, employer and home address of any expatriate involved in a criminal case.
