His Excellency Walid Bin Mohammed Bin Salih al-Samaani (born in 1978) has been the Minister of Justice of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia since the first ministerial formation under the reign of the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Salman Bin Abdulaziz Al Saud in 2015. He is also a member of the Council of Economic and Development Affairs and the acting president of the Supreme Judicial Council.
His education
He received his undergraduate education and pursued his postgraduate studies at Imam Mohammad Ibn Saud Islamic University. He received a bachelor's in Sharia Law in 1999 with honors, a master's from the High Judicial Institute - Systems Division (Sharia Policy Department) of the same university in 2003, and a Ph.D. in Comparative Law with high honors from the same Institute in 2012.
Beginnings in the judiciary
Al-Samaani started his work at the Board of Grievances in 2001 as a judge in the administrative, disciplinary, penal, and commercial judiciary of the board. He also headed a number of judicial departments in the board and served as a member of the board’s Technical Affairs Office. Al-Samaani was selected as a member of the Board of Grievances Training and Development Committee, and was part of the taskforce overseeing the electronic archiving of the board’s judicial rulings. Al-Samaani further served as secretary to the audit body responsible for establishing judicial principles.
He was part of the team charged with classifying the administrative rulings and judicial principles of 2006, as well as the team responsible for classifying and publishing judicial rulings of 2007. Al-Samaani was also assigned to work as a legal adviser in the Crown Prince's Court from July 8, 2013, and was appointed Minister of Justice on January 29, 2015.
His positions
He was tasked with chairing the Supreme Judicial Council, in addition to his appointment as Chairman of the Executive Office of the Council of Arab Justice Ministers, Chairman of the board of directors of the Saudi Bar Association, member of the National Transformation Program Committee, Chairman of the board of directors of the Alimony Fund, and Chairman of the board of directors of Entrustment and Liquidation Center.
His work at the Board of Grievances
Al-Samaani represented the Board of Grievances in the committee formed within the Bureau of Experts at the Council of Ministers and charged with reviewing judicial laws from 2007 to 2013. He was also a member of the committee to study the recommendations of the Third Arab Forum on "Technical Principals for Drafting Laws," the committee established to study the draft unified law of the judiciary of the Gulf Cooperation Council States, the committee established to discuss the draft judicial memorandum of understanding between the Kingdom and France, the committee established to discuss the amendment of the Electricity Law on legal safeguards for the introduction of sanctions in the law, and the committee formed to re-examine the draft Law of Terrorism Crimes and Financing
Al-Samaani participated in the preparation of the joint development agreement signed between the Board of Grievances and Imam Mohammad Ibn Saud Islamic University, and in the preparation and study of draft regulations on the functional affairs of judges in the Board of Grievances and the Supreme Judicial Council.
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