JEDDAH, 1 February 2007 — Fatima, the 34-year-old woman who was divorced by a judge in absentia at the request of her half-brothers, has refused to leave prison in Dammam into the custody of her only legal male guardians (mahram), the men who broke up her marriage.
Fearing for her safety, the lawyer in the case said yesterday that he sent on Monday a request to the minister of social affairs asking him to put Fatima in a women’s shelter. He also said prison officials have refused him access to his client. Abdul Rahman Al-Lahem, the lawyer representing Fatima and the man she still considers her husband, 37-year-old Mansour Al-Timani, told Arab New yesterday that earlier this week the family asked Alkhobar police to turn Fatima over to their custody, which is the legal procedure.
Alkhobar police then took Fatima from Dammam prison officials to her family, but she refused to go with her relatives.
“A police official told me that Fatima has refused to return to her family, and that he could not force her to go with them,” Al-Lahem told Arab News yesterday. “(The police official) said there was no other choice but to return her to Dammam prison.” Alkhobar police declined to comment yesterday when Arab News attempted to obtain a response.
The court of appeals in Saudi Arabia upheld Jan. 21 an Al-Jouf judge’s July 20, 2005 decision to grant the divorce on the request of the half-brothers. The court of appeals, known in the Kingdom as the Court of Cassation, has the final word in the Saudi justice system.
Al-Lahem said yesterday that he petitioned Social Affairs Minister Abdul Mohsen Al-Akkas to help Fatima to be taken to a women’s shelter instead of being turned over to her family.
“Isn’t it the duty of shelters run by the Ministry of Social Affairs to provide safety to possible victims of domestic violence?” said Al-Lahem. The divorce was brought on by the half-brothers because they claim Mansour misled the family on his tribal background when he was seeking Fatima’s hand in marriage. (Fatima’s father has since passed away, leaving his sons with power of attorney.)
The couple now have two young children, a one-year-old boy, who is with Fatima in prison, and a two-year-old girl, who is in Mansour’s custody. Mansour told Arab News recently that he fears the children will be mistreated due to the tribal prejudice held by Fatima’s family.
Arab News contacted Minister Al-Akkas yesterday, but he declined to comment on the lawyer’s request. “We want to help the couple, but this is a critical situation and not a topic for newspaper reports,” he told Arab News. Al-Lahem said if the ministry doesn’t respond in a week he will send a written request for help to the governmental National Human Rights Commission, headed by Turki Al-Sudairi, which could then take the issue to Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Abdullah.
Al-Lahem said that allowing relatives to intervene on marriages based on tribal affiliations is against Islamic law and sets up a dangerous legal precedent in Saudi case law.
The NHRC has also requested that Al-Lahem write a legal memo to submit to the country’s High Court and the king arguing that the appeals court ruling should not be used as a legal precedent in future case law.
