King urges building capacities of specialised judiciary

AMMAN — His Majesty King Abdullah on Sunday called for building the capacities of specialised judiciary to ensure swift quality litigation, while receiving the Judicial Council’s report for the year 2022.

Receiving the report at Al Husseiniya Palace from Judicial Council President Mohammad Ghazou, King Abdullah stressed the importance of coordinating with the government on expanding the implementation of alternative punishments, according to a Royal Court statement.

Council President Ghazou said all courts received over 465,000 cases in 2022, in addition to pending cases from 2021, adding that processing of investigative cases reached 99.7 per cent, with an average litigation period of 57 days.

The caseload per judge reached an average of 690 cases, with an average of 584 cases processed, he said.

A total of 4,193 alternative punishment rulings were issued in 2022, according to Ghazou.

Also on Sunday, His Majesty received a copy of the annual Sharia Courts report for 2022.

During a meeting at Al Husseiniya Palace with Chief Islamic Justice Abdul Hafez Rabtah and Higher Sharia Court President Kamal Smadi, King Abdullah stressed the importance of continuing to develop the infrastructure of Sharia Courts and enhancing efficiency to keep up with the increasing caseload, according a Royal Court statement.

His Majesty stressed the need to maintain the quality of services provided to citizens and to Jerusalemites, expressing support and appreciation for the courts’ efforts.

Providing a briefing, Rabtah said the number of Sharia judges reached 312 in 2022, noting that the courts ruled in 117,000 cases.

He added that 74 new electronic services will be launched this month.

According to Rabtah, the Sharia Courts in Jerusalem completed over 37,000 processes for Jerusalemites over the past year, compared with 25,000 in 2021.