JEDDAH, 20 August 2006 — Some heartless and selfish men often refuse to attend court hearings. They use a variety of excuses to keep from divorcing their unhappy estranged wives. By doing so, the woman remains married and is unable to marry again and start a new — and hopefully happier — life.

In what is an all-too-common problem, some women say their estranged husbands have refused to divorce them for over 20 years. According to Al-Nadwa newspaper, such women are forced into a confused situation. They are afraid to return to their abusive husbands and simultaneously unable to find happiness by marrying other men.

Courtrooms in the Kingdom are filled with the sad stories of battered and abused women left to exist in these vile and inhumane circumstances. Fed up with an abusive husband’s torture and humiliation, the women unsuccessfully seek help from the courts in order to file for divorce.

Waiting outside a courtroom was 35-year-old Umm Muhammad. “I was married to this man when I was 20 and we had four children,” she said. “During the time we were married, I tried to be a good wife and never did anything to upset him. In exchange, he has failed to show me even a shred of mercy.”

Umm Muhammad said her husband constantly fought with her over trivial matters and beat her for the most insignificant reasons. “One day he beat me using barbed wire until I fainted. He left me on the ground to bleed and I would have died if my neighbors had not carried me to the hospital. He knocked four of my teeth out and the police jailed him for two months.”

In the end, Umm Muhammad dropped the case against her husband for her children’s sake; she did not want the stigma attached to a mother who had put her children’s father behind bars. She filed for divorce but has been waiting for years for her estranged husband to make his appearance in court.

Umm Saleh, 40, a mother of three daughters and two sons, has been in an abusive marriage for 25 years. As a teacher, she supported her husband in the first years of marriage, helping him to buy a house and a car. She said her husband’s salary was insufficient to support a family and it was she who supported him and helped him. “He was angry all the time and wouldn’t hesitate to strike me even in front of other people. It was so bad that he would even beat me in front of my children and hit them in order to torture me.”

Umm Saleh says her children grew to hate their father and the entire family lived in fear of him. “One day he kicked me out into the street with my children after he took all my money and married a second wife. I am filing a lawsuit against him to get a divorce and to get my money and property back. I hate him and I hate the time that I spent with him. He avoids coming to court and because of his absence, the case gets postponed over and over.”

Umm Saleh says her husband refuses to divorce her and insists that she return to live with him. “I refuse to live with him and reject making up; it just isn’t possible. All that I want is my money and my freedom,” she explained.

Lamia Hussein, 36, married a relative 20 years ago when she was 16. She said her husband separated from her just to take revenge on her father and brother. “My brother was married to my estranged husband’s sister. He divorced her after only a week. After that my husband took revenge on my brother and father by leaving me after a couple of weeks of marriage and moving to a different city. He refuses to give me a divorce.”

Because of what she has endured, Lamia looks older than she is. “All these years he has kept me from being a mother just because I am the sister of the man who divorced his sister. It seems I am being forced to pay the price for something that has nothing to do with me. When I filed for a divorce, he accused me of lying and being a disobedient wife. I wish God would retaliate against this unjust man.”