Saudi Arabia is ending flogging as a form of punishment, according to a document from the kingdom`s top court seen by Reuters on Friday.

The decision by the General Commission for the Supreme Court, taken sometime this month, will see the punishment replaced by prison sentences or fines, or a mixture of both.

"The decision is an extension of the human rights reforms introduced under the direction of King Salman and the direct supervision of Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman," the document said.

Flogging has been applied to punish a variety of crimes in Saudi Arabia. Without a codified system of law to go with the texts making up sharia, or Islamic law, individual judges have the latitude to interpret religious texts and come up with their own sentences.

Rights groups have documented past cases in which Saudi judges have sentenced criminals to flogging for a range of offences, including public intoxication and harassment.

<a href="https://www.wionews.com/india-news/twitter-suspends-isis-fake-account-being-used-to-spread-fake-news-against-india-in-gulf-countries-294510">Also read:&nbsp;Twitter suspends ISI's fake account being used to spread fake news against India in Gulf countries</a>

"This reform is a momentous step forward in Saudi Arabia`s human rights agenda, and merely one of many recent reforms in the Kingdom," the president of the state-backed Human Rights Commission (HRC) Awwad Alawwad told Reuters.

Other forms of corporal punishment, such as amputation for theft or beheading for murder and terrorism offences, have not yet been outlawed.

"This is a welcome change but it should have happened years ago," said Adam Coogle, Deputy Director of the Middle East and North Africa Division at Human Rights Watch. "There`s nothing now standing in the way of Saudi Arabia reforming its unfair judicial system."

Saudi Arabia is ending flogging as a form of punishment, according to a document from the kingdom`s top court seen by Reuters on Friday. The decision by the General Commission for the Supreme Court, taken sometime this month, will see the punishment replaced by prison sentences or fines, or a mixture of both.

Saudi Arabia is ending flogging as a form of punishment, according to a document from the kingdom`s top court seen by Reuters on Friday. The decision by the General Commission for the Supreme Court, taken sometime this month, will see the punishment replaced by prison sentences or fines, or a mixture of both. "The decision is an extension of the human rights reforms introduced under the direction of King Salman and the direct supervision of Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman," the document said. Flogging has been applied to punish a variety of crimes in Saudi Arabia. Without a codified system of law to go with the texts making up sharia, or Islamic law, individual judges have the latitude to interpret religious texts and come up with their own sentences. Rights groups have documented past cases in which Saudi judges have sentenced criminals to flogging for a range of offences, including public intoxication and harassment. Also read: Twitter suspends ISI's fake account being used to spread fake news against India in Gulf countries "This reform is a momentous step forward in Saudi Arabia`s human rights agenda, and merely one of many recent reforms in the Kingdom," the president of the state-backed Human Rights Commission (HRC) Awwad Alawwad told Reuters. Other forms of corporal punishment, such as amputation for theft or beheading for murder and terrorism offences, have not yet been outlawed. "This is a welcome change but it should have happened years ago," said Adam Coogle, Deputy Director of the Middle East and North Africa Division at Human Rights Watch. "There`s nothing now standing in the way of Saudi Arabia reforming its unfair judicial system."

Saudi Arabia to end flogging as a form of punishment

Saudi Arabia&#39;s King Salman reshuffled some of the kingdom&#39;s top military officers and several deputy ministers on Monday in a broad shakeup seen as elevating younger officials in key economic and security areas.

The chief of staff was retired and replaced by First Lieutenant General Fayyad bin Hamed al-Ruwayli while new chiefs were appointed to the country&#39;s air defence and land forces, according to royal decrees published by state media.

Several new deputies in economic and security-related ministries, as well as a handful of new city mayors, were appointed, including Tamadur bint Youssef al-Ramah as deputy labour minister, a rare senior post for a woman in the deeply conservative kingdom.

The decrees also included the appointment of three deputy governors from among the descendants of Princes Ahmed, Talal and Muqrin - brothers of King Salman, some of whom may have felt sidelined by recent changes since his accession to the throne in 2015.

One of them, new deputy governor of Asir province, Prince Turki bin Talal, is the brother of billionaire Prince Alwaleed bin Talal, who was detained in the government&#39;s anti-corruption campaign and only released last month.

The way Saudi Arabia is run has seen major changes under 32-year-old Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, who rocketed to the heights of power from near obscurity after his father became king following the death of King Abdullah in 2015 and is pushing big economic and social reforms.

He is popular with many Saudi youths, who make up the vast majority of the population, but has irked some with his unconventional approach, including a palace coup last summer in which he pushed out his cousin to become heir to the throne.

Saudi analyst Ahmed al-Towayan, speaking on Saudi state television, said the new appointments were &quot;pumping young blood&quot; into local government while elevating young commanders into top military posts.

The chief of staff was retired and replaced by First Lieutenant General Fayyad bin Hamed al-Ruwayli while new chiefs were appointed to the country's air defence and land forces

Saudi Arabia's King Salman reshuffled some of the kingdom's top military officers and several deputy ministers on Monday in a broad shakeup seen as elevating younger officials in key economic and security areas. The chief of staff was retired and replaced by First Lieutenant General Fayyad bin Hamed al-Ruwayli while new chiefs were appointed to the country's air defence and land forces, according to royal decrees published by state media. Several new deputies in economic and security-related ministries, as well as a handful of new city mayors, were appointed, including Tamadur bint Youssef al-Ramah as deputy labour minister, a rare senior post for a woman in the deeply conservative kingdom. The decrees also included the appointment of three deputy governors from among the descendants of Princes Ahmed, Talal and Muqrin - brothers of King Salman, some of whom may have felt sidelined by recent changes since his accession to the throne in 2015. One of them, new deputy governor of Asir province, Prince Turki bin Talal, is the brother of billionaire Prince Alwaleed bin Talal, who was detained in the government's anti-corruption campaign and only released last month. The way Saudi Arabia is run has seen major changes under 32-year-old Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, who rocketed to the heights of power from near obscurity after his father became king following the death of King Abdullah in 2015 and is pushing big economic and social reforms. He is popular with many Saudi youths, who make up the vast majority of the population, but has irked some with his unconventional approach, including a palace coup last summer in which he pushed out his cousin to become heir to the throne. Saudi analyst Ahmed al-Towayan, speaking on Saudi state television, said the new appointments were "pumping young blood" into local government while elevating young commanders into top military posts.

Saudi Arabia reshuffles top military posts, adds woman deputy minister

Ever since Abdullah Yameen was elected as the President of the Maldives in November 2013, there has been quite a bit of traffic between the heavenly archipelago and the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. &nbsp;

Officials from each country&nbsp;are seen making frequent visits to the other. And, these are not vacation tours, at least not entirely. They are all about business and politics, big business and big politics.&nbsp;

Businessmen from the Kingdom and members of the royal family (House of Saud)&nbsp;itself are increasingly investing in the Maldives, a country which depends extensively on international investments to keep its economy going. And more investment also means more influence for Saudi Arabia.&nbsp;

After securing a massive project for the construction of a new passenger terminal for the Maldives international airport, the construction conglomerate Saudi Binladin Group - founded by Osama Bin Laden&#39;s father - leads the Saudi investment front.&nbsp;

The airport&#39;s new wing is part of an ambitious plan the Maldives government launched in 2014, a&nbsp;$800-million&nbsp;investment meant to boost the archipelago&#39;s tourism sector. Part of the funding will come from the Saudi Fund for Development, a government managed fund formally meant to support developing countries and often used as an instrument of influence and soft power. &nbsp;&nbsp;

Awarding the contract to the Binladin Group&nbsp;was controversial right from the word go. The same contract had previously been allotted to MGR, a major Indian infrastructure company which is seeking $1&nbsp;billion as compensation from the Maldives government for not respecting a valid contract.&nbsp;

In 2014, no less than Saudi Arabia&#39;s King Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud, crown prince back then, donated $1 million to the Maldives ministry of Islamic affairs and $1.5 million for health initiatives. He also promised to build ten &quot;world-class&quot; mosques in the country, the biggest of which will be in the capital city of Mal&eacute;:&nbsp;a six-storey structure which can hold 6,000 people.&nbsp;

It was again the Saudi Investment Fund which gave the Maldives $1 million to conduct a feasibility study for building a transhipment port and an attached Special Economic Zone in 2015. &nbsp;

In March 2016, Adam Shareef Umar, the Maldivian&nbsp;defence minister, travelled to Saudi Arabia to meet his counterpart,&nbsp;deputy crown prince Mohamed Bin Salman al-Saud, who pledged $50 million for a military housing project in&nbsp;Maldives. As the world has learnt from China, infrastructure development is the most surefire away of exerting influence on countries.

The role of Islam&nbsp;

It is not only profit which brings the two countries together. The Maldives are a Muslim nation by constitution, the population mostly Sunni. After the election of President Abulla Yameen, religion has increasingly stepped out from its traditional&nbsp;private sphere to make its effect felt in public life.&nbsp;

This change matches&nbsp;Saudi Arabia&#39;s aspiration to become the most influential actor among all Sunni - if not Muslim - countries in the world, an ambition that Iran&#39;s growing influence in West Asia has negatively impacted. &nbsp;

In November 2015, the Maldivian&nbsp;President invited the Saudi Islamic affairs minister Saleh bin Abdulaziz with the aim of building a &quot;religious bridge&quot;&nbsp;between the two countries. Saudi Arabia agreed to help the Maldives in collection of Zakat&nbsp;(an Islamic tax),&nbsp;in translating books on Islam into English, to send preachers across and to host and provide religious education to Maldivian scholars.&nbsp;

In the same year, for the first time ever, Saudi Arabia opened its first diplomatic mission in the archipelago. &nbsp;

In January 2016, Abdullah bin Mohamed bin Ibrahim Al-Sheikh, the first speaker of the King-nominated Saudi&#39;s Shura Council to visit the Maldives, announced the formation of a joint committee to address issues of mutual interest. He also donated $100,000 to the recently established Islamic University of Maldives.&nbsp;

The Saudi religious influence in the Maldives translates ultimately into the spread of Wahhabism. The hardline doctrine is, in fact, the Kingdom&#39;s official belief and is changing the common perception of Islam in the Maldives, where&nbsp;people had practised a traditionally and majorly&nbsp;tolerant version.&nbsp;

Beside being a perfect holiday destination, the Maldives&#39; location in the middle of the Indian Ocean makes the archipelago a strategic foothold for Saudi Arabia, which&nbsp;is using all its means to cement its position.

The Kingdom&#39;s influence in the Maldives&nbsp;has become so strong that for the first time in its history, the country has been pulled into the boiling cauldron of Sunni-Shia rivalry. In May 2016, the Maldives became the first Asian nation to sever&nbsp;its diplomatic relations with Iran after 41 years, without any solid reason. Saudi Arabia did the same in January.&nbsp;

On a similar note, it is worth remembering that the Maldives are a member of a 34-country military coalition led by the Saudis which is aimed&nbsp;to fight&nbsp;terrorism, at least on paper. In this alliance, there is no place for Iraq, Iran and Syria, all Shia-led countries. &nbsp;

It seems the struggle for hegemony of the Muslim world,&nbsp;till now mainly restricted to West&nbsp;Asia, is spreading to faraway lands. &nbsp;

(WION) 
&nbsp;

The Kingdom has increased its investments and is trying to turn the islands into a Wahhabi archipelago

Ever since Abdullah Yameen was elected as the President of the Maldives in November 2013, there has been quite a bit of traffic between the heavenly archipelago and the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. Officials from each country are seen making frequent visits to the other. And, these are not vacation tours, at least not entirely. They are all about business and politics, big business and big politics. Businessmen from the Kingdom and members of the royal family (House of Saud) itself are increasingly investing in the Maldives, a country which depends extensively on international investments to keep its economy going. And more investment also means more influence for Saudi Arabia. After securing a massive project for the construction of a new passenger terminal for the Maldives international airport, the construction conglomerate Saudi Binladin Group - founded by Osama Bin Laden's father - leads the Saudi investment front. The airport's new wing is part of an ambitious plan the Maldives government launched in 2014, a $800-million investment meant to boost the archipelago's tourism sector. Part of the funding will come from the Saudi Fund for Development, a government managed fund formally meant to support developing countries and often used as an instrument of influence and soft power. Awarding the contract to the Binladin Group was controversial right from the word go. The same contract had previously been allotted to MGR, a major Indian infrastructure company which is seeking $1 billion as compensation from the Maldives government for not respecting a valid contract. In 2014, no less than Saudi Arabia's King Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud, crown prince back then, donated $1 million to the Maldives ministry of Islamic affairs and $1.5 million for health initiatives. He also promised to build ten "world-class" mosques in the country, the biggest of which will be in the capital city of Malé: a six-storey structure which can hold 6,000 people. It was again the Saudi Investment Fund which gave the Maldives $1 million to conduct a feasibility study for building a transhipment port and an attached Special Economic Zone in 2015. In March 2016, Adam Shareef Umar, the Maldivian defence minister, travelled to Saudi Arabia to meet his counterpart, deputy crown prince Mohamed Bin Salman al-Saud, who pledged $50 million for a military housing project in Maldives. As the world has learnt from China, infrastructure development is the most surefire away of exerting influence on countries. The role of Islam It is not only profit which brings the two countries together. The Maldives are a Muslim nation by constitution, the population mostly Sunni. After the election of President Abulla Yameen, religion has increasingly stepped out from its traditional private sphere to make its effect felt in public life. This change matches Saudi Arabia's aspiration to become the most influential actor among all Sunni - if not Muslim - countries in the world, an ambition that Iran's growing influence in West Asia has negatively impacted. In November 2015, the Maldivian President invited the Saudi Islamic affairs minister Saleh bin Abdulaziz with the aim of building a "religious bridge" between the two countries. Saudi Arabia agreed to help the Maldives in collection of Zakat (an Islamic tax), in translating books on Islam into English, to send preachers across and to host and provide religious education to Maldivian scholars. In the same year, for the first time ever, Saudi Arabia opened its first diplomatic mission in the archipelago. In January 2016, Abdullah bin Mohamed bin Ibrahim Al-Sheikh, the first speaker of the King-nominated Saudi's Shura Council to visit the Maldives, announced the formation of a joint committee to address issues of mutual interest. He also donated $100,000 to the recently established Islamic University of Maldives. The Saudi religious influence in the Maldives translates ultimately into the spread of Wahhabism. The hardline doctrine is, in fact, the Kingdom's official belief and is changing the common perception of Islam in the Maldives, where people had practised a traditionally and majorly tolerant version. Beside being a perfect holiday destination, the Maldives' location in the middle of the Indian Ocean makes the archipelago a strategic foothold for Saudi Arabia, which is using all its means to cement its position. The Kingdom's influence in the Maldives has become so strong that for the first time in its history, the country has been pulled into the boiling cauldron of Sunni-Shia rivalry. In May 2016, the Maldives became the first Asian nation to sever its diplomatic relations with Iran after 41 years, without any solid reason. Saudi Arabia did the same in January. On a similar note, it is worth remembering that the Maldives are a member of a 34-country military coalition led by the Saudis which is aimed to fight terrorism, at least on paper. In this alliance, there is no place for Iraq, Iran and Syria, all Shia-led countries. It seems the struggle for hegemony of the Muslim world, till now mainly restricted to West Asia, is spreading to faraway lands. (WION)

Analysis: Religion and money fuel Saudi Arabia's influence in Maldives