The surgical needle holder has two elongated arms that end in expansions in the form of scissor finger loops for introducing the fingers and correspondingly actuating both arms. The elongated arms are pivotally attached to each other and have pivotally mounted jaws at the ends of the elongated arms. Bevel gear mechanisms interface the elongated arms with the pivotally mounted jaws so that separating the finger loops separates the jaws, and bringing the finger loops together closes the jaws to grip a surgical needle. The needle holder has ratchet lock members extending towards each other between the elongated arms in order to lock the jaws on the surgical needle, similar to the locking of a hemostat. By applying this gear configuration, the motion of needles will be along any plane parallel to the longitudinal axle of the device while the surgeons hand is in a neutral position.
