Courts in different parts of the Kingdom issued 715 rulings in the last 18 months that have banned the persons involved from traveling abroad, local media said.

The majority of cases are related to financial and real estate claims, Al-Hayat daily said quoting data released by the Ministry of Justice.

Madinah registered the highest number of banned cases with 254 cases, followed by Al-Qassim (124), Makkah (110), Riyadh (82), the Eastern Region (77) while the Northern Border Region registered only one case, the report said.

Khalid Al-Mihaimaid, a lawyer, said the Kingdom’s system of legal proceedings allows a plaintiff to submit a summary case during the proceeding or immediately after it, asking the judge to prevent his opponent from traveling if he believes that the defendant’s travel may expose his rights to danger or delay the settlement.

Meanwhile, Yusuf Al-Binali, another legal expert, said there is a belief among the public that the travel ban is restricted to the community of businessmen which, he said, is erroneous. Some companies have filed lawsuits against employees for disputes and banned them from traveling.

The latter cases have the highest occurrence rates where labor offices are referring such cases to courts to take final decisions, he said.