{"id":9962,"date":"2026-10-29T02:23:51","date_gmt":"2026-10-28T23:23:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ususlawfirm.com\/relative-arrested-saudi-arabia\/"},"modified":"2026-10-29T02:24:10","modified_gmt":"2026-10-28T23:24:10","slug":"relative-arrested-saudi-arabia","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ususlawfirm.com\/en\/relative-arrested-saudi-arabia\/","title":{"rendered":"My Relative Was Arrested in Saudi Arabia: The First 48 Hours"},"content":{"rendered":"<div dir=\"ltr\" style=\"text-align: left;\">\n<p>A relative has been arrested and you do not know where or why? This is a step-by-step guide to <strong>the first 48 hours after an arrest<\/strong> in Saudi Arabia, with the rights written in the Criminal Procedure Law.<\/p>\n<h2>First 24 hours<\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li>No arrest without an order from the competent authority except in flagrante (Art. 35).<\/li>\n<li>The person is told the reasons and may contact whoever they choose (Art. 116).<\/li>\n<li>No one is held more than 24 hours without a written order from the investigator; questioning within 24 hours, then detention or release (Arts. 33-34).<\/li>\n<li>A lawyer may attend the investigation (Art. 65).<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2>Detention periods<\/h2>\n<p>First order up to 5 days (Art. 113); extension up to 40 days from arrest, then by the Attorney General in 30-day periods up to 180 days (Art. 114). Release is possible at any time if detention is not justified (Art. 120).<\/p>\n<h2>Frequently asked questions<\/h2>\n<h3>My relative was arrested in Saudi Arabia. What should I do first?<\/h3>\n<p>Find out the authority, the charge and the place of detention; make no statements and hand over no devices before speaking to a lawyer; prepare proof of work and residence for a release request.<\/p>\n<p>See <a href=\"https:\/\/ususlawfirm.com\/en\/detention-period-saudi-arabia\/\">detention periods<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/ususlawfirm.com\/en\/release-on-bail-saudi-arabia\/\">release on bail<\/a> and our <a href=\"https:\/\/ususlawfirm.com\/en\/criminal-lawyer-riyadh\/\">criminal lawyer in Riyadh<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p style=\"font-size:12.5px;color:#6a6178;border-top:1px solid #e6ddd0;padding-top:10px;margin-top:16px\"><em>This article is general legal information and is not a substitute for advice on your specific case. Court proceedings in Saudi Arabia are in Arabic; the official Arabic text of each law prevails.<\/em><\/p>\n<div class=\"usus-qbox\">\n<h2>Request a quick consultation<\/h2>\n<p>Leave your name and mobile number, and a lawyer from our Riyadh or Tabuk office will call you during working hours. We advise in English.<\/p>\n\n<div class=\"wpcf7 no-js\" id=\"wpcf7-f6963-o1\" lang=\"en-US\" dir=\"ltr\" data-wpcf7-id=\"6963\">\n<div class=\"screen-reader-response\"><p role=\"status\" aria-live=\"polite\" aria-atomic=\"true\"><\/p> <ul><\/ul><\/div>\n<form action=\"\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9962#wpcf7-f6963-o1\" method=\"post\" class=\"wpcf7-form init\" aria-label=\"Contact form\" novalidate=\"novalidate\" data-status=\"init\">\n<fieldset class=\"hidden-fields-container\"><input type=\"hidden\" name=\"_wpcf7\" value=\"6963\" \/><input type=\"hidden\" name=\"_wpcf7_version\" value=\"6.2.2\" \/><input type=\"hidden\" name=\"_wpcf7_locale\" value=\"en_US\" \/><input type=\"hidden\" name=\"_wpcf7_unit_tag\" value=\"wpcf7-f6963-o1\" \/><input type=\"hidden\" name=\"_wpcf7_container_post\" value=\"0\" \/><input type=\"hidden\" name=\"_wpcf7_posted_data_hash\" value=\"\" \/>\n<\/fieldset>\n<span id=\"wpcf7-6ae3206136b15-wrapper\" class=\"wpcf7-form-control-wrap cf7apps-honeypot-wrap honeypot-qf-wrap\" style=\"position:absolute;width:1px;height:1px;padding:0;margin:-1px;overflow:hidden;clip:rect(0,0,0,0);white-space:nowrap;border:0;\"><label for=\"wpcf7-6ae3206136b15-field\" class=\"hp-message\">Please leave this field empty.<\/label><input id=\"wpcf7-6ae3206136b15-field\"  class=\"wpcf7-form-control wpcf7-text\" type=\"text\" name=\"honeypot-qf\" value=\"\" autocomplete=\"new-password\" tabindex=\"1000\" data-cf7apps-tabindex=\"1000\" \/><\/span>\n<div class=\"usus-qf\">\n<div class=\"f\"><label for=\"q-name\">Name<\/label><span class=\"wpcf7-form-control-wrap\" data-name=\"q-name\"><input size=\"40\" maxlength=\"400\" class=\"wpcf7-form-control wpcf7-text wpcf7-validates-as-required\" id=\"q-name\" autocomplete=\"name\" aria-required=\"true\" aria-invalid=\"false\" placeholder=\"Your name\" value=\"\" type=\"text\" name=\"q-name\" \/><\/span><\/div>\n<div class=\"f\"><label for=\"q-phone\">Mobile<\/label><span class=\"wpcf7-form-control-wrap\" data-name=\"q-phone\"><input size=\"40\" maxlength=\"400\" class=\"wpcf7-form-control wpcf7-tel wpcf7-validates-as-required wpcf7-text wpcf7-validates-as-tel\" id=\"q-phone\" autocomplete=\"tel\" aria-required=\"true\" aria-invalid=\"false\" placeholder=\"05xxxxxxxx\" value=\"\" type=\"tel\" name=\"q-phone\" \/><\/span><\/div>\n<div class=\"f\"><label for=\"q-city\">City<\/label><span class=\"wpcf7-form-control-wrap\" data-name=\"q-city\"><select class=\"wpcf7-form-control wpcf7-select wpcf7-validates-as-required\" id=\"q-city\" aria-required=\"true\" aria-invalid=\"false\" name=\"q-city\"><option value=\"Riyadh\">Riyadh<\/option><option value=\"Tabuk\">Tabuk<\/option><option value=\"Other city\">Other city<\/option><\/select><\/span><\/div>\n<div class=\"f w\"><label for=\"q-msg\">Your case in brief (optional)<\/label><span class=\"wpcf7-form-control-wrap\" data-name=\"q-msg\"><textarea cols=\"40\" rows=\"2\" maxlength=\"600\" class=\"wpcf7-form-control wpcf7-textarea\" id=\"q-msg\" aria-invalid=\"false\" placeholder=\"One or two lines are enough\" name=\"q-msg\"><\/textarea><\/span><\/div>\n<div class=\"s\"><input class=\"wpcf7-form-control wpcf7-submit has-spinner\" type=\"submit\" value=\"Request a call from a lawyer\" \/><\/div>\n<\/div><div class=\"wpcf7-response-output\" aria-hidden=\"true\"><\/div>\n<\/form>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>A relative has been arrested and you do not know where or why? This is a step-by-step guide to the first 48 hours after an arrest in Saudi Arabia, with the rights written in the Criminal Procedure Law. First 24 hours No arrest without an order from the competent authority except in flagrante (Art. 35). [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":9966,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[84],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-9962","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-criminal-law"],"acf":[],"featured_image_src":{"landsacpe":["https:\/\/ususlawfirm.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/usus-cover-9962-1140x445.jpg?wsr",1140,445,true],"list":["https:\/\/ususlawfirm.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/usus-cover-9962-463x348.jpg?wsr",463,348,true],"medium":["https:\/\/ususlawfirm.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/usus-cover-9962-300x169.jpg?wsr",300,169,true],"full":["https:\/\/ususlawfirm.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/usus-cover-9962.jpg?wsr",1200,675,false]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ususlawfirm.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9962","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ususlawfirm.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ususlawfirm.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ususlawfirm.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ususlawfirm.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=9962"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/ususlawfirm.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9962\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ususlawfirm.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/9966"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ususlawfirm.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9962"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ususlawfirm.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9962"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ususlawfirm.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9962"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}