Torture is pervasive in the justice system in Saudi Arabia.
In part, this is because essential legal safeguards necessary to prevent torture are missing. Instead torture is institutionalized in the unfettered power of the police, the denial of fundamental legal rights to prisoners, and the secrecy that cloaks the justice system. A second major problem is that Saudi Arabian courts continue to impose sentences like flogging or amputation that are considered a form of torture, ill-treatment or cruelty under international human rights laws. Saudi Arabian courts use corporal punishment for a wide range of offences, including possession of alcohol and violations of codes of sexual conduct. Some proponents justify judicial corporal punishment on cultural or religious grounds.