Types of Legal Protection for Witnesses in Corruption Cases in the Saudi Law

Abstract

In view of the vital role played by the testimony or witness in detecting and combating corruption crimes, the Saudi Arabia issued a new  law for the protection of whistleblowers, witnesses, experts and victims, by Royal Decree No. (M/148) dated 8/8/1445 AH, and since there is a potential threat to those who dare to reporting or witnessing the commission of these crimes, the  low dealt with the types and forms of protection provided to them, and this research  tries to answer a key question, which is:  What types of protections does the Saudi low guarantee to witnesses in corruption cases?

This is done by using the descriptive , analytical research methodology, by characterizing and extrapolating the types of protection, and analyzing the texts of the low to identify the types and forms of protection contained therein.

The study reached several results, the most important of which are: the interest of the Saudi regulator in protecting witnesses in this type of cases to provide the necessary guarantees for the protection of human rights, as it enacted a set of security, judicial, functional and social guarantees to protect the witness, and organized a number  of new measures, including concealing the witness's identity and personal data, not attending him during the trial, and sufficiency, for example, with recordings without the possibility of discussing him.