In 2002, Saudi Arabia allowed for the first time access...

In 2002, Saudi Arabia allowed for the first time access to a UN Special Rapporteur on the independence of judiciary.
The unprecedented visit by UN envoy Dato Param Coomarasawamy was regarded as an epoch-making event that was expected to result not only in improvement in the overall system but also in removing the misconceptions about the Saudi judicial system in the Western world.
The Western press has claimed that the authorities in the Kingdom resort to arbitrary arrests, corporal punishments such as flogging and the use of death penalty, which at times go against the Geneva Conventions for human rights.
Human rights organizations maintain Saudi Arabia often fails to give defendants fair trials.
The Kingdom has however, been stressing that it sincerely applies Islamic Sharia and being the citadel of Islam, it cannot accept anything in contravention to the Islamic jurisprudence.