By ARAB NEWS

JEDDAH: Minister of Justice Muhammad bin Abdul Karim Al-Issa has launched in Jeddah a fingerprinting system to help identify women who appear in court.

The procedure is meant to negate the need for women to uncover their faces or bring other men or witnesses for identification purposes.

The minister launched the new system after a tour of summary and general courts in Jeddah and said judges would no longer have to summon guardians or witnesses.

He said the system was designed in collaboration with the Ministry of Interior and aimed to protect the privacy of women and also to prevent cases of impersonation, a crime not uncommon in Saudi courts.

Under Shariah law, women have to cover their faces and only show them to mahrams (guardians) including their husbands, fathers, grandfathers, brothers and sons.

Al-Issa said under the new system, a woman will only have to enter her identity card in the fingerprinting machine and all her particulars will appear before the judge, including her name, age and other details.