JEDDAH, 6 May 2006 — The General Court in Jeddah accepted a divorced foreign woman’s petition that her four-year-old son be granted his rights by his Saudi father, press reports said yesterday.
Muhammad Ismael Dafa, the lawyer representing the foreign woman, said the Saudi, in his twenties, abandoned his foreign wife, whose nationality was not mentioned, after learning that she became pregnant, Al-Madinah newspaper reported.
According to the lawyer, the man has been taking advantage of the complicated legal process involved by resorting to delaying tactics, such as not responding to court summons in the hope that the woman will give up her efforts.
But the woman was bent on establishing the child’s rights. After four years of legal battle, the court issued a judgment in favor of the woman, restoring the son’s rights and leaving the child’s custody to the mother. The court also confirmed the divorce, the lawyer said.
The wealthy Saudi and the foreign woman were living in adjoining buildings for several years before they got married.
About four years ago the man learned that his wife was going to have a baby. He hated to be a father and wanted to escape the responsibility.
In order to get rid of his wife he disappeared after changing the lock of their apartment when she had gone visiting relatives.
On her return she could not open the door and after waiting several hours she went to her parents’ house. The next day the husband informed her that she was divorced. With her dreams about a happy life shattered she suffered severe depression.
After her delivery the woman filed a suit against the man to establish the man as her child’s father, the paper said.
