Amendments to the military retirement system: conditions for death and martyrdom
The military retirement system in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia has witnessed important legislative clarifications aimed at regulating the legal concepts related to the rights of military personnel and their families, through setting precise and specific definitions for cases of death that require the settlement of the retirement pension, whether that death resulted from normal work conditions or was related to the conditions of war and combat operations.
Clarifying the concept of death at work
The new amendment to the regulations governing the military pension system clarifies that the legal phrase "those who die during and as a result of work" must be interpreted within its exclusive scope. It refers to cases where a member of the military dies while performing their regular duties, provided there is a direct link between the death and the nature of the work performed. This definition clearly distinguishes this category from the other cases stipulated in paragraph (b) of the same article.
Conditions for considering death as martyrdom in war
With regard to paragraph (b) concerning the phrase “if a soldier is martyred as a result of service he was ordered to perform during the course of war”, the resolution established a precise regulatory framework that includes three essential conditions that must be met together for the description of martyrdom to apply, namely:
- Direct causal link: where the death of the soldier must be definitively a result of an official mission assigned to him by his military command.
- Direct connection to war: The assigned task must be closely related to war operations or military tasks branching out from them.
- Time of death: The death must actually occur during an ongoing war.
The resolution also noted a crucial point regarding the geographical scope, stressing that the application of this paragraph is not limited to a specific geographical area; which means that the case of martyrdom is counted whether it occurred inside or outside the area of direct military operations, as long as it is proven to be related to a combat mission in wartime.
Legislative context and the importance of the decision
This decision resulted from extensive legal and procedural reviews, based on correspondence received from the Royal Court, a thorough study of the military retirement system, and memoranda from the Council of Experts and the minutes of the Council of Economic and Development Affairs. This series of reviews reflects the Saudi legislature's commitment to closing any loopholes that could lead to differing interpretations.
This amendment is of paramount importance on both social and legal levels, as it contributes to strengthening "legislative clarity," a cornerstone of legal reforms in the Kingdom. Through this definition, the rights of military personnel and their heirs are fairly guaranteed, and the possibility of subjective interpretations of regulations is eliminated, thus ensuring the swift processing of retirement applications and the disbursement of benefits to eligible recipients according to transparent and standardized criteria.
