[nasional_list] [ppiindia] Wives in Limbo Seek Court Help

From: "Ambon" <sea@xxxxxxxxxx>
To: <"Undisclosed-Recipient:;"@freelists.org>
Date: Tue, 28 Feb 2006 10:17:16 +0100
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**http://www.arabnews.com/?page=1&section=0&article=78514&d=28&m=2&y=2006

            Tuesday, 28, February, 2006 (29, Muharram, 1427)


                  Wives in Limbo Seek Court Help
                  Arab News 

                    
                  RIYADH, 28 February 2006 - Consider it a Saudi version of a 
pre-nuptial agreement. More and more often, Saudi women are establishing their 
legal rights to file for divorce prior to tying the knot. What is even stranger 
is the reason behind it, which is unusual in Saudi society. We are living in a 
society that does not discuss such things, let alone ask for them, Al-Riyadh 
reported.

                  A marriage contract that includes a clause or clauses setting 
out circumstances under which a woman can divorce her husband is something new. 
If it is signed and witnessed before the marriage, both parties are bound by it 
and it gives the woman a right to divorce her husband if she chooses. At 
present many women have been left by their husbands - not divorced but simply 
deserted. In such cases, the woman is theoretically still married but in fact 
she is not. She is in a kind of limbo and many women find themselves in this 
limbo for many years.

                  Another problem is that women often face long legal 
procedures when they file for divorce; they must convince the judge of the 
rightness of their case and must present evidence of their husband's 
wrongdoings. In cases where there has been physical abuse, judges may demand 
testimony by witnesses but if the abuse occurred at home - as it almost always 
does - there may well be no witness. The solution to these problems lies in 
what we referred to above as a prenuptial agreement, signed and accepted by 
both the man and the woman. Some women have gone so far as to refuse to marry a 
man who would not agree to this.

                  Nura, a 27-year-old Saudi woman, agrees that this condition 
should be in the hands of women. She said these additions to the marriage 
contract would be an important way to encourage women to marry. "What I 
suffered in my marriages has been terrible," she said. "I married first when I 
was a university student. It was a traditional marriage, arranged by my family. 
It did not last and I was soon divorced. Later I married another man, mainly to 
escape society's censure and blame. Then I found that my second husband was an 
alcoholic; initially, I tried to help him but it was impossible."

                  Nura then asked him for a divorce but he refused. She next 
went to court but she was told that she had to prove her husband was an 
alcoholic. The court hearings were delayed and postponed for months because her 
husband refused to come to court. Nura has now been waiting for a year and she 
has not yet received a divorce. She said, "No woman will go to court to ask for 
divorce unless there is a problem. We need justice so we could live in peace." 
An agreement prior to marriage that both partners accepted could have solved 
this problem.

                  Ebtihaj agrees that these agreements in the hands of women 
would solve many problems, especially since women have little chance in court. 
She told her story.

                  "I married the man of my choice but after marriage, I 
discovered many defects in my husband. Married life was virtually impossible. I 
talked to my father and he told me to be patient. For one year I tried to get 
along with my husband but he is a man who believes that he is always right and 
will simply not listen to a woman. He even refused to pay household expenses 
and when I complained to my father, he started beating me. I ran away to my 
father's house and went with him to the court to get a divorce. The judge asked 
me for proof of what I was saying; he wanted witnesses. How could I produce 
witnesses when everything happened behind closed doors?"

                  Ibraheem Al-Fuhaid, a lawyer and legal consultant, said that 
Islam puts the decision for divorce into the hands of the husband. A husband 
can grant his wife the right to divorce before marriage. The question is 
whether the wife can get the right after marriage. He said that if both agreed, 
then the wife would have the right to divorce her husband whenever she wanted 
to.

                  Muhammad Al-Nujaimi, a scholar, said that parents should make 
sure that their daughter's husband is satisfactory by investigating him before 
the marriage. The father has the right to ask for a dowry before marriage and 
also, in the event of the man divorcing his daughter, the father may also ask 
for the same amount again and the man must pay it. This has the effect of 
making the man think twice about divorcing his wife or mistreating her. The 
wife may also ask for a clause in the contract, which stipulates that she must 
be well-treated and that she must be allowed to work or study if she likes. If 
the husband violates these conditions, the woman has the right to divorce him.
                 
           
     


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[nasional_list] [ppiindia] Wives in Limbo Seek Court Help

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