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Saudi women granted licenses to practice law

October 7, 2013

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Jeddah, Oct 7: Four Saudi women were granted licenses on Sunday by the Ministry of Justice to practice law in the Kingdom’s courts.

Up until the implementation of this decision, Saudi women who graduated from law school were previously employed as legal consultants, but were banned from practicing law in the courtroom and were not given attorney status. They also could not own and operate law firms.

Female lawyers have often complained about their inability to use their law degrees despite years of studying and, in some cases, earning a doctorate in law.

The ministry’s move could have a wide-ranging impact on Saudi Arabia’s domestic court system. Women in divorce and custody cases have long battled a system that favors fathers and husbands.

Saudi female clients will now have an opportunity to be represented by women who can empathize with their plight.

“The ministry’s decision to grant Saudi female lawyers licenses to open their own law offices will help female lawyers work without facing obstacles, especially since there are many women who prefer to deal with female lawyers,” Feriyal Al-Kinj, a female Saudi lawyer, told Arab News.

The ministry awarded a license to Arwa Al-Hujaili, a King Abdulaziz University graduate from Jeddah, to become a legal trainee in April. Al-Hujaili can practice law once she completes her three-year internship.

What remains to be determined is whether these female lawyers will be protected against discrimination in the courtroom and whether they will be allowed to travel freely to perform their jobs.

Al-Kinj said the ministry should establish special halls for women in courts, adding that there are 2,500 Saudi women who work as legal consultants in the Kingdom.

“Around 50 percent of my clients are male,”she said.

Bayan Zahran, a female Saudi lawyer, said: “This license will be granted to female lawyers after they fulfill the requirements to practice law in the country’s courts. Such a step represents the full support of Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Abdullah to Saudi women.

“This license can contribute to helping female lawyers to work within this profession. Female lawyers will be able to work independently from male lawyers.”

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News Network
July 28,2020

Dubai, Jul 28: A heart-broken father who lost his 19-year-old son in a tragic car accident during Christmas last year has sponsored the repatriation costs of 61 Indians stranded in the UAE.

 The special flydubai repatriation flight, chartered by the All Kerala Colleges Alumni Federation (Akcaf) volunteer group, of which he is a member of, departed from Dubai to Kochi on July 25 carrying 199 passengers.

 On this particular flight, I sponsored 55 air tickets," said TN Krishnakumar, a sales and marketing director. He had lost his son Rohit Krishnakumar in a car accident, which also claimed the life of the teen's friend, Sharat Kumar (21).

"All passengers who were registered with the Indian missions were also asked to register on the Akcaf volunteer group website. Each passenger was further vetted, after which we made home visits to ensure that all the applicants were genuinely in need of financial support and repatriation," he said.

Commenting on what inspired him to dedicate himself to community work, Krishankumar said: "When a situation like this comes up, you realise there is no meaning in money. I invested everything I made into my son, and that had crashed in front of my eyes. He was a third-year medical student at the University of Manchester in the UK and had returned home for a vacation when the accident took place. Since then, I have been involved in a lot of social activities. If I do not do this, there is no meaning to my existence."

Since the outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic, Krishnakumar said the group has supported thousands of individuals in need of help. "We supported unemployed people with several hundred bags of grocery kits and other necessary items. We also supported Covid-19 patients by transferring them to the medical facility in Warsan, etc.," he said.

"I come from a very middle-class family. I got a scholarship to study in college, and I studied with the help of taxpayers' money. I have always wanted to give back to society. I have grown immensely in life and now is my time to give back.," he added.

Krishnakumar also sponsors the education of over 1,000 academically gifted school children in Kerala's government-aided schools. He is a life trustee at the College of Engineering Trivandrum Alumni Galaxy Charitable Trust and an active participant towards various educational causes.

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Agencies
July 19,2020

Occupied Jerusalem, Jul 19: Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s corruption trial resumed on Sunday.

Netanyahu is charged with fraud, breach of trust and accepting bribes in a series of scandals in which he is alleged to have received lavish gifts from billionaire friends and exchanged regulatory favors with media moguls for more agreeable coverage of himself and his family.

Netanyahu denies wrongdoing, painting the accusations as a media-orchestrated witchhunt pursued by a biased law enforcement system.

The trial opened in May. Just before appearing in front of the judges, Netanyahu took to a podium inside the courthouse and flanked by his party members bashed the country’s legal institutions in an angry tirade.

Netanyahu was not expected to appear at Sunday’s hearing, which is taking place at an occupied Jerusalem court and is mostly a procedural deliberation.

The trial resumes as Netanyahu faces widespread anger over his government’s handling of the coronavirus crisis.

While the country appeared to have tamped down a first wave of infections, what’s emerged as a hasty and erratic reopening sent infections soaring. Yet even amid the rise in new cases Netanyahu and his emergency government — formed with the goal of dealing with the crisis — appeared to neglect the numbers and moved forward with other policy priorities and its reopening plans.

It has since paused them and even re-impose restrictions, including a weekend only lockdown set to begin later this week.

Netanyahu’s government has been criticized for a baffling, halting response to the new wave, which has seen daily cases rise to nearly 2,000. It has been slammed for its handling of the economic fallout of the crisis.

His trial thus comes at inopportune timing. Netanyahu had hoped to ride on the goodwill he gained from overcoming the first wave of infections going into his corruption trial, but the increasingly souring mood has affected his approval rating and may deny him the public backing he had hoped for. The anger has sparked protests over the past few weeks that have culminated in violent clashes with police.

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News Network
April 20,2020

Riyadh, Apr 20: Six more people have died in Saudi Arabia after contracting coronavirus as 1,122 new coronavirus cases were reported on Monday.

The Saudi health ministry said that total number of cases in the Kingdom had increased to 10,484. It also recorded 92 new recoveries, raising the total to 1,490.

The ministry said precautionary measures shall remain to limit the virus spread.

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