While the Ministry of Commerce and the courts used to defame citizens and residents after final court rulings were issued against them convicting them of crimes of commercial cover-up and commercial fraud, as well as defamation of harassers by publishing their names, jurists believe that defamation by publishing four-four names is not sufficient for the similarity of many four and five names, which requires a study to be defamation convicts, accompanied by a personal photograph.
Judgments were issued defaming citizens and residents in several cases, including commercial cases such as commercial concealment and commercial fraud, as well as criminal cases such as harassment and information crimes. Judgments were issued against convicts, which were published in local newspapers under the quadruple name, according to the verdict's operative part.
The full name is not enough
Former Public Prosecution member, lawyer Saleh Misfir Al-Ghamdi, told Okaz that the issuance of defamation judgments in commercial or criminal cases by publishing the fourfold name of the convict in a local newspaper according to the verdict’s utterance may cause embarrassment to others whose names and surnames are similar to the name of the defamer, and perhaps it is important to study the publication of The image of the defamed person by judicial order has always been issued by a court ruling that has acquired peremptory.
For his part, lawyer Ahmed Al-Rashed indicates that the defamation penalty is a disciplinary punishment that the judge has the power to impose on whoever committed the violation or the crime, and defamation is usually in crimes in which the criminal relies on people’s trust, such as perjury and fraud, and given that defamation is a punishment, its expenses are borne by the convict according to what is decided Laws, and defamation can be imposed as an accessory penalty that is definitively attached to the original penalty, and it can be imposed as a supplementary penalty stipulated in the ruling ruling the original penalty or in another decision independent of it, depending on the gravity of the crime.
Doctors and engineers fell into embarrassment
Lawyer Nabil Qamlou confirms that defamation can only be done by the judiciary with peremptory acquired rulings stipulating publishing the name of the convict, and publishing the image of the convict achieves deterrence and protects those whose names and titles are similar and avoids similarities, embarrassment and harm, especially those whose names may be similar to those advertised in the media According to judgments defaming them from the courts, especially in cases of harassment, concealment and commercial fraud. Lawyer Qamlo recounted that some of the names announced in cover-up cases embarrassed some citizens, some of whom were doctors and engineers whose names coincided with names defamed in commercial cases.
Lawyer Kholoud Majid Al-Ahmadi said that defamation, according to its legal nature, is a punishment and is often a complementary or consequential punishment, and penalties can only be imposed by a final court ruling according to a text if the judge of the case considers that the penalty by defamation is a preventive and deterrent aspect for others, and the executive authority (some government departments) may – To issue an administrative decision for defamation if the system has granted it this right in specific cases, such as the Ministry of Commerce defaming some violating merchants, and the Ministry bears the consequences of this decision before the administrative judiciary if it is proven that the right was abused.
Differences of fine and defamation
Lawyer Khaled Abu Rashid confirmed that the penalty for defamation differs from fines, as the latter is implemented without anyone knowing, while defamation – especially through the media – reaches a large group that may leave an impact that prevents them from doing a similar act to what the defamer did. The penalty of defamation finds its basis in creating the preventive and deterrent aspect in front of others in the Almighty's saying (and let their torment be witnessed by a group of believers), in application of the law of God Almighty, as happens in cases of hudud, retribution and flogging.
Adnan Shabrawi (Jeddah) @Adnanshabrawi
