Behind the veil of justice:

due process on trial in the middle east

Authors

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.11117/rdp.v22i114.8773

Keywords:

Due process, Middle East, Human Rights, Fair Trail, Judicial Independence

Abstract

This article explores the systemic violations of due process rights across various countries in the Middle East, highlighting patterns of legal abuse, arbitrary detention, lack of fair trial guarantees, and the politicization of judicial systems. Drawing on case studies, legal analyses, and human rights reports, the article examines how authoritarian governance structures, emergency laws, and national security narratives are often used to justify infringements on fundamental legal protections. Particular focus is given to the denial of legal representation, coerced confessions, closed-door trials, and the suppression of dissent. The study argues that these violations not only undermine the rule of law but also contribute to broader instability and public mistrust in state institutions. The article concludes by offering policy recommendations aimed at strengthening judicial independence and ensuring compliance with international human rights standards across the region.

Downloads

Download data is not yet available.

Author Biography

Mohamed’ Arafa, Alexandria University Faculty of Law .Egyp

Professor da Alexandria University Faculty of Law. Alexandria. Egito. Professor Adjunto na Cornell Law School. Ithaca. EUA.

References

AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL. Egypt: Hundreds Disappeared and Tortured Amid Wave of Brutal Repression. 13 jul. 2016. Available at: https://www.amnesty.org/en/latest/news/2016/07/egypt-hundreds-disappeared-and-tortured-amid-wave-of-brutal-repression/ . Acesso em: 08 out. 2025.

ANDREWS, K. R. Ethics in practice. 263 p., 1989.

ARAB REPUBLIC OF EGYPT. Constitution of Arab Republic of Egypt, 18 Jan. 2014. Art. 55. Available at:

http://www.sis.gov.eg/Newvr/Dustor-en001.pdf Acesso em: 6 out. 2025.

‘ARAFA, Mohamed. Battling Corruption within a Corporate Social Responsibility Strategy. Indiana International & Comparative Law Review, v. 21, n. 3, 2011.

‘ARAFA, Mohamed. Legitimacy versus Illegitimacy – Transparency, Integrity of Financial Markets and Corporate Governance: Whither Corruption? Kuwait International Law Journal Sharie‘a Legal Studies & Research, v. 32, n. 8, p. 4, 2016.

ARAFA, Mohamed. Legitimacy versus Illegitimacy – Transparency, Integrity of Financial Markets and Corporate Governance: Whither Corruption? Kuwait International Law Journal of Sharie‘a Studies & Research, v. 3, p. 12, 2016.

‘ARAFA, Mohamed. Middle East Legislative Insight: Egyptian Antiterrorism Laws, Egypt Law No.22/2018, Egypt Law No.8/2015, Egypt Law No.94/2015. LexisNexis Middle East Commentary, 2019.

‘ARAFA, Mohamed. Middle East Legislative Insight: Egyptian Cybercrime Laws, Egypt Law No.175/2018. LexisNexis Middle East Commentary, 2019.

‘ARAFA, Mohamed. The Archeology of the Freedom of Information Laws: Egypt ‘Fake-News Laws’. Florida Coastal Law Review, v. 20, n. 1, 2020.

ARAFA, Mohamed. The Imam and the Pope: Remembering the Medina Constitution. Human Trustees, 3 nov. 2020. Available at:

https://www.humantrustees.org/blogs/muslim-christian-dialog/item/196-imam-pope-medina-charter Acesso em: 08 out. 2025.

AUF, Yussef. The State of Emergency in Egypt: An Exception or Rule? The Atlantic Council, 12 fev. 2018. Available at: https://www.atlanticcouncil.org/blogs/menasource/the-state-of-emergency-in-egypt-an-exception-or-rule/ Acesso em: 08 out. 2025.

AZIZ, Sahar. Egypt’s Judiciary, Coopted. Carnegie Endowment for International Peace,20 ago. 2014. Available at:

https://carnegieendowment.org/sada/?fa=56426

AZIZ, Sahar. Independence without Accountability: The Judicial Paradox of Egypt’s Failed Transition to Democracy. Penn State Law Review, v. 120, p. 101, 2016.

BANFIELD, Edward. Corruption as a Feature of Governmental Organization. Journal of Law & Economics, v. 18, 1975.

BANFIELD, Edward C. The Moral Basis of Backward Society. New York: Free Press, 1958.

BANAJI, Mahzarin. The Psychology of Institutional Corruption: Ideas for Experiments. Edemand J. Safra, Harvard Center for Ethics, 2012. Available at: http://ethics.harvard.edu/mahzarin-banaji-psychology-institutional-corruption-ideas-experiments

BLACK, Ann; ESMAEILI, Hossein; HOSEN, Nadirsyah. Modern Perspectives on Islamic Law. 2013.

BOSSAERT, Danielle; DEMMKE, Christophe. Main Challenges in the Field of Ethics and Integrity in the EU Member States. European Institute of Public Administration, Committee on Standards in Public Life, 10th Report: Getting the Balance Right—Implementing Standards of Conduct in Public Life, 2004. Available at: <http://www.eipa.nl/Publications/Summaries/05/2005_1.pdf> . Acesso em: 08 out. 2025.

BROWN, Nathan. The Rule of Law in the Arab World: Courts in Egypt and the Gulf. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1997.

BUSCAGLIA, Edgardo. Judicial Corruption in Developing Countries: Its Causes and Economic Consequences. 1999.

BAYLEY, David H. The Effects of Corruption in a Developing Nation. Western Political Quarterly, v. 19, n. 4, p. 719–732, 1966.

CASSELL, Cathy; JOHNSON, Phil; SMITH, Ken. Opening the Black Box: Corporate Codes of Ethics in their Organizational Context. Journal of Business Ethics, v. 16, 1997..

CLARK, Kathleen. Do We Have Enough Ethics in Government? An Answer from Fiduciary Theory. University of Illinois Law Review, v. 57, 1996.

COMMITTEE ON STANDARDS IN PUBLIC LIFE. 10th Report: Getting the Balance Right—Implementing Standards of Conduct in Public Life. London: HMSO, 2005.

Convention on Combating Bribery of Officials in International Business Transactions. [S.l.]: OECD Negotiating, 1998.

CAVANAGH, Gerald F. The Ethics of Organizational Politics. Academy of Management Review, v. 6, 1981.

DAEHLER, Jennifer. Professional versus Moral Responsibility in the Developing World. Georgetown Journal of Legal Ethics, v. 9, 1995.

DUNCAN, Christopher J. The 1998 Foreign Corrupt Practices Act Amendments: Moral Empiricism or Moral Imperialism? Asian–Pacific Law & Policy Journal, v. 14, p. 14, 2000.

DURRANT, Charlotte. What are the advantages and disadvantages of codes of conduct in regulating moral behavior in business? 2008.

EGYPT. Anti-Protest Law No. 107 of 2013.

EGYPT. Constitution of the Arab Republic of Egypt. 2014. Art. 204.

EGYPT. Constitution of the Arab Republic of Egypt. 2014. Arts. 70–71

EGYPT. Emergency Law No. 162 of 1958. 1958.

EGYPT. Law No. 136 of 2014 on Securing and Protecting of Public and Vital Facilities (Egypt Military). 2014.

EGYPT. Law No. 175 of 2018, arts. 7, 14(2), 20(3), 9.

EGYPT TODAY. Egypt’s Ministry Working on Digitizing Litigation System. 29 nov. 2020. Available at: https://www.egypttoday.com/Article/1/94764/Egypt%E2%80%99s-Ministry-working-on-digitizing-litigation-system

ESMAEILI, Hossein. On a Slow Boat Towards the Rule of Law: The Nature of Law in the Saudi Arabian Legal System. Arizona Journal of International and Comparative Law, v. 26, p. 1, 2009.

ESMAEILI, Hossein. The Nature and Development of Law in Islam and the Rule of Law Challenge in the Middle East and the Muslim World. Connecticut Journal of International Law Review, v. 26, p. 2, 2011.

ESMAEILI, Hossein. The Rule of Law in the Middle East. In: SILKENAT, James R.;

HICKEY Jr., James E.; BARENBOIM, Peter D. (ed.). The Legal Doctrines of the Rule of Law and the Legal State (Rechtsstaat). Ius Gentium: Comparative Perspectives on Law and Justice, 2014.

ETHICS IN CONGRESS. From Individual to Institutional Corruption. 1995.

FARRALES, Mark Jorgensen. What is Corruption? A History of Corruption Studies and the Great Definitions Debate. 2005.

FENNESSY, Caitlin. Virtual Justice and Privacy: What Does COVID-19 Mean for Due Process? IAPP, 5 mai. 2020. Available at: https://iapp.org/news/a/virtual-justice-and-privacy-what-does-covid-19-mean-for-due-process/

FISH, Michael Steven. Islam and Authoritarianism. World Politics, v. 55, 2002.

GLOBALIZING TORTURE: CIA Secret Detention and Extraordinary Rendition. Open Society Justice Initiative, fev. 2013. Available at: https://www.justiceinitiative.org/publication/globalizing-torture-cia-secret-detention-and-extraordinary-rendition

HARMS, Brian C. Holding Public Officials Accountable in the International Realm: A New Multi-Layered Strategy to Combat Corruption. Cornell International Law Journal, v. 33, 2000.

HARRINGTON, Alexandra; RESNIK, Judith; VANCLEAVE, Anna. Regulating Restrictive Housing: State and Federal Legislation on Solitary Confinement as of July 1, 2019. The Liman Center at Yale Law School, 2019.

HENDERSON, Simon. Implications of the Saudi Corruption Arrests. The Washington Institute for Near East Policy, 16 mar. 2020.

HESS, David; DUNFEE, Thomas W. Fighting Corruption: A Principled Approach; The C² Principles (Combating Corruption). Cornell International Law Journal, v. 33, 2000.

HOVELL, Devika. Due Process in the United Nations. American Journal of International Law, v. 110, 2006.

HUMAN RIGHTS WATCH. Egypt: Covid-19 Cover for New Repressive Powers – Amendments Could Curb Rights in Name of “Public Order”. 7 maio 2020. Available at: https://www.hrw.org/news/2020/05/07/egypt-covid-19-cover-new-repressive-powers

HUMAN RIGHTS WATCH. Libya: Judicial Closures and Limited Court Operations During Outbreak. 2011.

HUNTINGTON, Samuel. The Third Wave: Democratization in the Late Twentieth Century. 1991.

ILIEV, P. The effect of SOX Section 404: Costs, earnings quality, and stock prices. Journal of Finance, v. 3, p. 1163, 2010.

INSTITUTIONAL CORRUPTION. Lessig Wiki. Available at: http://www.wiki.lessig.org/Institutional_Corruption

JOHNSON, Roberta; KRAFT, Michael. Bureaucratic Whistleblowing and Policy Change. Western Political Quarterly, v. 43, n. 4, 1990.

JOHNSTON, Michael. Fighting Systemic Corruption: Social Foundations for Institutional Reform. European Journal of Development Research, v. 10, p. 85, 1998.

JOHNSON, Simon; KWAK, James. 13 Bankers: The Wall Street Takeover and the Next Financial Meltdown. 2010.

KENNEDY, David. The International Anti-Corruption Campaign. Connecticut Journal of International Law Review, v. 14, p. 455, 1999.

KIRKPATRICK, David D. Saudi Arabia Arrests 11 Princes, Including Billionaire Alwaleed bin Talal. The New York Times, 4 nov. 2017. Available at: https://www.nytimes.com/2017/11/04/world/middleeast/saudi-arabia-waleed-bin-talal.html. Acesso em: 6 out. 2025.

KLICH, Agnieszka. Bribery in Economies in Transition: The Foreign Corrupt Practices Act. Stanford Journal of International Law, v. 32, p. 121, 1996.

KNIGHT, Jack. Institutions and Social Conflict. 1992.

KOEHLER, Mike. The Story of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act. Ohio State Law Journal, v. 73, n. 5, 2012.

LAMBSDORFF, Johann Graf. Corruption in Comparative Perception. In: JAIN, Arvind (ed.). Economics of Corruption. 1998.

LEFF, Nathaniel. Economic Development through Bureaucratic Corruption. American Behavioral Scientist, v. 8, n. 2, p. 8–14, 1964.

LESSIG, Lawrence. Lessig in the Nation: How to Get Our Democracy Back. Harvard Law Today, 12 fev. 2009.Available at: https://today.law.harvard.edu/lessig-in-the-nation-how-to-get-our-democracy-back/

LEYS, Colin. What is the Problem about Corruption? Journal of Modern African Studies, v. 3, 1965.

McMILLAN, John; ZOIDO, Pablo. How to Subvert Democracy: Montesinos in Peru. Journal of Economic Perspectives, v. 18, p. 69–92, 2004.

MÉON, P.-G.; SEKKAT, K. Does corruption grease or sand the wheels of growth? Public Choice, v. 122, 2005.

MILBANK, Dana; BRAUCHLI, Marcus. How U.S. Concerns Compete in Countries Where Bribes Flourish. Wall Street Journal, 1995.

MILLER, Carla. The Tail Wagging the Dog: Institutional Corruption and the Federal Sentencing Guidelines for Organizations (FSGO). Edemand J. Safra, Harvard Center for Ethics, 20 ago 2013. Available at:

http://ethics.harvard.edu/blog/tail-wagging-dog

MOILANEN, Timo; SALMINEN, Ari. Comparative Study on the Public-Service Ethics of the EU Member States. Report from the Human Resources Working Group EUPAN, 2006. Available at: http://vm.fi/documents/10623/307711/Comparative_Study_on_the_Public_Service_Ethics_of_the_EU_Member_States_publication+131206.pdf/524e908b-5388-4d1c-9199-59b4f3e567a9.

NELSON, Mike. Codes of Ethics in Transitional Democracies: A Comparative Perspective. Palidauskaite Journal of Public Integrity, v. 8, p. 35–48, 2006.

NEW ZEALAND. Code of Conduct for the State Services. Wellington: State Services Commission, 1998.

NOONE, Gregory P. An Analysis of Transnational Corruption. 2007.

ONU. International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), art. 9, 1966. Available at: https://www.ohchr.org/en/instruments-mechanisms/instruments/international-covenant-civil-and-political-rights

PODGOR, Ellen S.; BORMAN, Paul D.; HENNING, Peter; ISRAEL, Jerold H. White Collar Crime: Law and Practice. 2003.

RING, Andrés. United Arab Emirates: A Look at the Current State of Litigation in the UAE and Related Strategic Considerations. Mondaq, 21 abr. 2020. Available at: https://www.mondaq.com/litigation-contracts-and-force-majeure/921116/a-look-at-the-current-state-of-litigation-in-the-uae-and-related-strategic-considerations

ROSE-ACKERMAN, Susan. Corruption and Government: Causes, Consequences, and Reform. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1999.

SALBU, Steven R. Are Extraterritorial Restrictions on Bribery a Viable and Desirable International Policy Goal Under the Global Conditions of the Late Twentieth Century? Yale Journal of International Law, v. 24, 1999.

SHIHATA, Ibrahim. Corruption: A General Review with an Emphasis on the Role of the World Bank. Dickinson Journal of International Law, v. 15, 1997.

SIMON, Johnson; KWAK, James. 13 Bankers: The Wall Street Takeover and the Next Financial Meltdown. 2010.

STIGALL, Dan E. Iraqi Civil Law: Its Sources, Substance, and Sundering. Journal of Transnational Law & Policy, v. 16, p. 1, 2006.

THOMPSON, Dennis. Two Concepts of Corruption: Making Campaigns Safe for Democracy. George Washington Law Review, v. 73, p. 1036, 2005.

TURNER, Mark; HULME, David. Governance, Administration, and Development. 1997.

UNITED KINGDOM. Committee on Standards in Public Life: The Seven Principles of Public Life. London: Nolan Committee, 1998.

UNITED NATIONS GENERAL ASSEMBLY. International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights. Nova Iorque: United Nations, 16 dez. 1966. United Nations, Treaty Series, v. 999, p. 171. Available at:

https://www.refworld.org/docid/3ae6b3aa0.html. Acesso em: 6 out. 2025.

UNITED NATIONS GENERAL ASSEMBLY. International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights. Nova Iorque: United Nations, 16 dez. 1966. United Nations, Treaty Series, v. 993, p. 3. Available at:

https://www.refworld.org/docid/3ae6b36c0.html. Acesso em: 6 out. 2025.

UNITED NATIONS GENERAL ASSEMBLY. Universal Declaration of Human Rights, 10 Dec. 1948. 217 A(III), art. 15. Available at:

https://www.refworld.org/docid/3ae6b3712c.html. Acesso em: 6 out. 2025.

UNITED NATIONS OFFICE OF THE HIGH COMMISSIONER FOR HUMAN RIGHTS. Statement on concerns regarding the politicization of the judiciary in the MENA region. [s.l.], [s.d.].

UNITED STATES. Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002, Pub. L. 107-204, 116 Stat. 745, § 404.

WALLIS, Johan Joseph. The Concept of Systematic Corruption in American History. 2005.

WHITSON, Sarah Leah. Saudi Arabia: Corruption Arrests Raise Due Process Concerns. Human Rights Watch, November 8, 2017. Available at: https://www.hrw.org/news/2017/11/08/saudi-arabia-corruption-arrests-raise-due-process-concerns. [www.hrw.org]

WILLIAMSON, O. E. Transaction-cost economics: the governance of contractual relations. Law & Economics Journal, v. 22, n. 2, p. 233–261, 1979.

WINDSOR, Duane; GETZ, Kathleen A. Multilateral Co-operation to Combat Corruption: Normative Regimes despite Mixed Motives and Diverse Values. Cornell International Law Journal, v. 33, 2000.

WORLD HEALTH ORGANIZATION. Preventing COVID-19 Outbreak in Prisons: A Challenging but Essential Task for Authorities. 23 mar. 2020. Available at: https://www.euro.who.int/en/health-topics/health-determinants/prisons-and-health/news/news/2020/3/preventing-covid-19-outbreak-in-prisons-a-challenging-but-essential-task-for-authorities

WORLD ORGANIZATION AGAINST TORTURE. COVID-19 Exacerbates the Risk of Ill-treatment and Torture Worldwide: UN Experts. 26 June 2020.Available at: https://www.ohchr.org/en/NewsEvents/Pages/DisplayNews.aspx?NewsID=25995&LangID=E. Acesso em: 7 out. 2025.

YINGLING, M. Patrick. Civil Disobedience to Overcome Corruption: The Case of Occupy Wall Street. Indiana Journal of Law & Social Equality, v. 4, p. 21, 2016.

YINGLING, M. Patrick. Conventional and Unconventional Corruption. Duquesne Law Review, v. 51, n. 2, 2013.

YINGLING, M. Patrick; ‘ARAFA, Mohamed A. After the Revolution: Egypt’s Changing Forms of Corruption. University of Baltimore Journal of International Law, v. 2, p. 23, 2014.

Published

2025-12-19

How to Cite

Arafa, M. (2025). Behind the veil of justice:: due process on trial in the middle east. Direito Público, 22(114). https://doi.org/10.11117/rdp.v22i114.8773