Spokesman for the Ministry of Justice Abdullah Al-Saadan said the article was inaccurate and that its author had changed his statement.

The article — which ran with the headline “Ministry of Justice raises its tone against the HRC” — alleged that Al-Saadan called on the human rights body to ascertain facts when it receives complaints about judges and the slowness of judicial

procedures.

The comments were allegedly made during Al-Saadan’s opening address at a forum for notaries, entitled “Skills for Dealing with Various Character Styles,” in Riyadh on Monday. He added that his comments had been taken out of context.

Responding to a reporter’s question that a HRC report says it has received 176 complaints against judges, Al-Saadan said, “Is the HRC sure of the cases? And if so we have specific channels to deal with complaints, but we’ve not received anything from the HRC in this regard.”

Speaking about the issue with the Arab News, Al-Saddan said, “The HRC should send us the report. If there is anything, then we will look into it.” He added that the Ministry of Justice and the HRC are in cooperation with each other.