Minister of Justice Walid Al-Samaani

Justice ministers from the six-member Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) on Wednesday stressed the need to strengthen cooperation within the bloc after Minister of Justice Walid Al-Samaani called for closing ranks in the wake of dangers posed by a regional power. The ministers were here to attended the 28th ministerial meeting of the GCC justice ministers which was presided over by Al-Samaani.

“Our region is going through a time that needs a unified vision in order to face challenges surrounding us, and we need to stand together to confront them,” said Al-Samaani in his address.

A GCC official later said the ministers discussed a number of issues related to further enhancing legal and judicial cooperation among member states.

The issues that topped the agenda of the meeting included the extradition of accused and convicts between the GCC states, preparation of rules to combat trafficking, and a uniform law to combat terrorism in member states.

The ministers also discussed the initiative to establish the Arab network for legal experts and updating the agreement on a verdict’s execution and judicial announcements in member states.

Earlier in his address to the meeting, Kuwaiti Minister of Justice Yaqoub Al-Sanea lauded the call by Al-Samaani saying this effort to cement cooperation by implementation of resolutions reflects real and fruitful legal cooperation among the member states.

Commenting on the Justice Against Sponsors of Terrorism Act (JASTA), he said the challenges and risks GCC states are facing require the formation of a special team to be tasked with considering the impact of the act recently adopted by the United States.

Reacting to JASTA, Al-Samaani recently said: “The bill violates the principles of international law and all international norms, as well as the principle of sovereign equality between states enshrined in the UN Charter.”

He had also warned of the dangers of politicizing laws, pointing out that the adoption of this bill assumed that American judiciary could prosecute anyone in the world. This is a serious breach of the rules and basic principles of international law.

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