Electronic Evidence In Saudi Arabia: Admissibility, Types, And Practical Use

Saudi law does not leave digital proof to the court’s discretion alone. The Law of Evidence, issued by Royal Decree No. (M/43) dated 26/5/1443H (30 December 2021) and in force according to the Bureau of Experts platform, devotes a whole Part, Part Four, to what it calls digital evidence. That Part is read together with the Electronic Transactions Law, issued by Royal Decree No. (M/18) dated 8/3/1428H, which is also in force. Read together, the two laws answer the questions a litigant actually faces: what counts as digital evidence, what weight each kind carries, who must prove what when authenticity is challenged, and what happens when a party withholds the material the court asks for. (The Arabic text on the Bureau of Experts platform is the authoritative version; the quotations below are translated from it.)