A special UN human rights envoy on an unprecedented...

A special UN human rights envoy on an unprecedented visit to Saudi Arabia held talks with the kingdom's Islamic affairs minister and a top judiciary official.
Dato'Param Cumaraswamy, UN special rapporteur on the independence of judges and lawyers, discussed with Saleh al-Shaikh "issues of mutual concern," the official SPA news agency said.
Shaikh Mansur al-Malek, head of the kingdom's administrative court, in a separate meeting, briefed Cumaraswamy about the duties of the court in the settlement of complicated commercial and administrative cases.Cumaraswamy met on October 21 with Justice Minister Abdullah al-Shaikh, who underscored the independence of the judiciary and the three-tier litigation system, highlighting three bills introduced in 2002 to reform the justice system.
The bills spell out the rights of defendants and suspects before courts and the police, regulate the legal profession and allow lawyers to represent defendants in cases of criminal offences.
The oil-rich kingdom has been targeted for criticism in the past by human rights groups for alleged violations. The kingdom applies a strict form of sharia, or Islamic law, imposing the death penalty for murder, rape, apostasy, armed robbery, drug trafficking and repeated drug use.
So far in 2002, 41 people have been beheaded while at least 81 people were executed in 2001.
But the Saudi government has invited Cumaraswamy for an unprecedented week-long visit, asserting that it would open its jails and courts for the UN envoy.
In April, Saudi Arabia said it was in the final stages of setting up two human rights commissions, one run by the government and the second a non-governmental body.
During his visit, Cumaraswamy is also scheduled to meet with the interior and foreign ministers, judges, lawyers, intellectuals, university professors and others concerned with human rights.
A report from the visit will be presented at next spring's annual session of the UN Commission on Human Rights in Geneva.