RIYADH: Vision 2030’s proposed revamp of the judiciary has given new hope to women prisoners seeking speedy trials who have been languishing in correctional services facilities for years, according to a report in a local publication on Monday.

It has been a painful wait for many women citizens and expatriates who have been brought to court for years in handcuffs only to have their cases postponed and then forced to return to their cells. It is also costing the state a great deal of money to care for them while in custody.

According to the National Transformation Program (NTP) 2020, the operational plan of Vision 2030 announced earlier this month, the Justice Ministry is planning to reduce the number of cases proceeding to trial by attempting to introduce greater reliance on mediation and other measures. The aim is to cut the number of lawsuits handled by the courts and ensure each judge’s caseload is reduced from the current 455 to 299 by 2020. The global benchmark is 277 cases.

N.D., a woman prisoner arrested for alleged kidnapping and murder eight years ago, is still waiting for her case to be resolved. Her troubles seem to have begun when she divorced her husband, leaving behind nine children, and married another man. However, her former husband was angry and started pursuing her.

Her current husband then forced her to return to her former husband’s home. According to the charges against her, she was furious with her former husband so she allegedly tied him up and placed him in a car so she could take him to some place to kill him. The man was in poor health and died during the trip.

N.Q., a Yemeni expatriate, has been in jail for over a year and has not had her case finalized, which has caused her a great deal of anguish because she has a 13-year-old child. She had married and then unofficially divorced a Saudi national, and was later arrested for illegal seclusion with a friend.

H.R., a citizen, ran away from her family home after having several problems with her mother and sisters after she divorced. She went to stay with her friend, but was arrested when her brother reported her missing, the report stated.

Another citizen is in jail waiting for sentence to be passed and is suffering from depression because of the long delay; while an expatriate woman has been languishing in prison for 14 months, also seeking resolution of her case.

Saudi Arabia’s SR268-billion NTP is a five-year plan to triple revenue from non-oil sources, tax expatriates and goods, reduce water and electricity subsidies, cut public sector salaries and ensure a greater involvement of the private sector in the economy, as part of a long-term initiative to reduce the country’s dependence on oil.

The NTP is part of Vision 2030, being spearheaded by the Council of Economic and Development Affairs chaired by Deputy Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.