“We’ll make arrangements for the media to attend such trials and will be coordinating with the ministry’s spokesman for this purpose,” he said.

A special anti-terror court in Riyadh has so far issued preliminary verdicts on 442 cases involving 765 suspected Al-Qaeda militants.

According to Abdullah Al-Saadan, the ministry’s spokesman, the accused militants are facing charges such as being affiliated with Al-Qaeda, funding terrorism and providing material support to terrorists.

The preliminary verdicts issued by the court ranged from jail sentences for different terms to capital punishment. The sentences also include fines, a ban on traveling abroad and house arrest in a city of the criminal's choice. The accused have also been given the right to defend themselves by appointing lawyers.

Al-Eissa denied suggestions that there is shortage of judges in the Kingdom.

“Considering international standard, the number of judges in Saudi Arabia is double the required number,” he pointed out.

He said the ministry sticks to a stringent standard while selecting judges, adding that "regionalism or nepotism" does not play a role in these selections.

Al-Eissa also denied that the judges were not following their official working hours. “In fact they are the most prompt among the government employees," he said.

The minister said the decisions taken by a committee at the Ministry of Culture and Information on violation of laws on the dissemination of information would be administrative. “People can approach the court if they are not convinced by those decisions,” he added.

Al-Eissa said the court would have the right either to endorse or nullify the committee’s decisions on the basis of evidence and documents.

“The committee has solved hundreds of cases through reconciliation,” he said.

The minister stressed the need for a judicial media spokesperson. He also pointed out that the media are not allowed to publish details about ongoing cases in the court system.

Culture and Information Minister Abdul Aziz Khoja affirmed the close relation between the media and the judiciary, adding that they complement each other.

The two-day conference is being attended by prominent judicial experts and people from the media.