Amendments to the Executive Regulations of the Law of Criminal Procedures

1. Amendment of Paragraph 1 of Article 157, of the Executive Regulations:

The paragraph prior to the amendment was as follows: A specialist doctor shall conduct a medical examination to verify the health of the convicted person, before the execution of the death sentence, amputation, stoning, flogging, or as per Qisas in the text, or below, and

if the convict is male, then the execution without medical examination, if the punishment to be executed death sentence and stoning or self-punning.

The provisions in the paragraph after amendment after deletion are as follows:

 A specialist doctor shall conduct a medical examination to verify the health of the convicted person, before carrying out the punishment for death sentence, amputation, stoning, flogging or retribution in the text, or below.

The object of the amendment:

is that the condition of medical examination through a specialized doctor is an irreplaceable procedure, before the execution of the sentence, and the removal of any exception related to the gender of the convict, whether male or female, as well as the type of punishment, whether it is murder, amputation or stoning or whipping or retribution in the soul, as the old text excludes medical examination for male convicts,

with regard to the decision to impose certain punishments such as death sentence, stoning, or retribution in the soul, and thus amending that paragraph, stating the broadness and comprehensiveness, the cancellation of exceptions and the application of the requirement

of medical examination for both males and females, for all kinds of penalties.

1. Amendment to Paragraphs in Article 163, of the Executive Regulations:

The paragraph prior to the amendment was as follows: The competent authority, after carrying out the penalty of death sentence or stoning, prepares the dead body of the

deceased for burial.

The provisions in the paragraph after amendment are as follows: After the execution of the death penalty or stoning, the competent authority shall prepare the dead body of the executed and bury the same. In the event that the person executed is a non-Saudi, then the

competent authority may, upon a request from his country’s embassy, hand the dead body to the embassy, to deport the dead body, at the expense of the relevant embassy.

The objective of the amendment:

 is to differentiate whether the deceased who was executed by the death sentence or stoning is a Saudi or a foreigner. The amendment

stipulates regulation when a non-Saudi convict is executed. If the deceased is a foreigner, then some conditions should be met for the preparation of the dead body’s burial. The conditions are that there should be a proper request from the embassy of the deceased’s country to receive his body, and after the request, the embassy of the

deceased’s country should deport the body to the deceased’s country. The cost of deportation of the body of the executed should be at the expense of the embassy of his country.