Federal Decree by Law Promulgating the Criminal Procedures Law

1. The provisions of this Law shall apply to the procedures relating to the offenses punishable under the Law of Crimes and Penalties and other Penal Codes, as well as the procedures relating to the criminal offenses of Qisas [retaliation in kind] and Diyya [the financial compensation payable to the victim or heirs of a victim in the cases of murder, bodily harm or property damage], insofar as they do not conflict with the Rules of Islamic Sharia.

2. The provisions of this law shall apply to all proceedings that have yet to be adjudicated on, as well as all procedures that have yet to be implemented, prior to the date of entry into force of this Law, with the following exceptions:

A. The jurisdiction-amending provisions where their date of entry into force falls beyond the close of pleadings into the pending proceedings;

B. The time limit-amending provisions where the underlying time limit has already commenced prior to their entry into force; and

C. The provisions regulating the methods of challenging the judgments with regard to the judgments rendered prior to their date of entry into force, where such laws are either repealed or creating any of such methods.

3. Every procedure validly conducted under an applicable law shall remain valid and effective unless otherwise stipulated.

4. The time limits regulating the termination of criminal actions on limitation grounds or other procedural time limits that are newly prescribed by any law shall only commence as of the date of entry into force of the law prescribing the same.

5. The provisions of the Civil Procedure Law shall apply to all matters not specifically stipulated in this law.

1. Any criminal punishment shall only be imposed on any person after he / she is found guilty in accordance with the law.

2. Any person shall only be arrested, searched, remanded in custody, detained, prevented from travelling abroad or placed under electronic monitoring in the circumstances and based on the conditions set out in the law. Detention or imprisonment sentences shall only be enforced at their designated places and for the period specified in the order issued by the competent authority.

3. It shall be forbidden to inflict physical or moral harm upon the Accused and to make any person undergo torture or degrading treatment. Any evidence obtained by way of any of such methods shall be deemed null and void.

Members of the public authority may only get access to any inhabited place in the circumstances specified in the law, where the persons living inside the inhabited place seek help or relief, or where a serious danger to life or property is expected to occur.

1. Each Accused charged with a felony punishable by the death penalty or life imprisonment sentence shall have an attorney to defend him / her during the trial stage. If the Accused fails to appoint an attorney to defend him / her, the court shall appoint an attorney to defend him / her, and the State shall bear the professional fees of the attorney so appointed, as described in the law.

2. The Accused charged with a felony punishable by a determinate prison sentence may request that the court appoint an attorney to defend him / her if the Court is convinced that the same is financially unable to appoint an attorney.

3. If the attorney appointed by the court has and asserts any excuses or impediments that would prevent him from defending the accused, the attorney shall forthwith furnish the same to the Chief Justice of the Criminal Court. If the court accepts the excuses, another attorney shall be appointed.

The Public Prosecution is part of the judicial authority, and shall conduct the investigation into, and prosecution of, criminal offenses in accordance with the provisions of this Law.

The Public Prosecution shall supervise penal institutions and places designated for pretrial detention, imprisonment and confinement of debtors.

1. Judicial Police Officers and investigation bodies may only disclose the victim's data to the parties concerned, with regard to the criminal offenses specified by a decision of the Attorney General.

2. Likewise, the data and information relating to criminal offenses may only be disclosed in accordance with the procedures and controls determined by the Attorney General.

1. All fact-finding, investigation and trial procedures shall be conducted in Arabic.

2. If the Accused, the witness, or other parties whose statements or testimonies are required to be recorded in the evidence-gathering reports, the investigation reports of the Public Prosecution or the transcripts of trial hearings, do not speak Arabic, the Judicial Police Officer, the prosecutor or the competent court's judge, as the case may be, may either engage an interpreter from among the approved or licensed interpreters or use any technical means approved by the Ministry of Justice or the by Local Judicial Authority.

3. If the Accused, the witness or other parties involved in the criminal action are mute, deaf or unable to speak, the questions shall be recorded in writing, and their answer to them shall be recorded in a document to be attached with the case file. If the same cannot be recorded in writing, a sign language interpreter shall be engaged.

4. Under any circumstances, the Judicial Police Officers, the Public Prosecution and the court may engage an interpreter belonging to any other entity after taking an oath to perform his / her mission with honesty and sincerity.