RIYADH, 14 March 2008 — Nora and her five sisters are lonely. Their father has turned them into damsels in distress. He continues to reject men who propose to marry them.

Lolwa, Nora’s aunt, said the girls are of marriageable age — between 20 and 30 years old. She said the man sits at the door guarding them, and only unlocks the door for them to go shopping.

“At the beginning, people visited him asking for their hands in marriage, but he kept putting them off and sending them on a wild goose chase. He finally came out frankly saying he doesn’t want his girls to marry,” said Lolwa.

She added that the family’s neighbors and relatives have tried to intervene, but the father would not listen.

The case was brought to a court in the Dammam where a family friend notified a judge.

The judge, who did not want his name to be published, called the father for an explanation. The man lied that his daughters had already been married several times. The judge then suggested that suitable boys should be found from among the girls’ relatives and that he would conduct their marriages without the father’s consent. (In Saudi Arabia, a woman may seek court protection from her mahram, or legal guardian. The Islamic court becomes the woman’s guardian in that situation.)

However, the mother refused, saying she did not want to scandalize her ex-husband or their family name because she feared that he would retaliate.

The man is unemployed and is supported by the mother of the girls. Lolwa said his sister was divorced because her husband objected to her traveling to visit her parents. “But he remained in the lives of my sister and her daughters. He controls them and terrorizes them emotionally,” she added.

The mother of the girls is a retired teacher and her pension is not enough to support a house full of girls, including a step daughter from her husband’s previous marriage who the woman has raised as her own. She assured the man that she would always support him, as she “cherishes his relationship with their daughters,” said Lolwa.

Forced marriages and preventing women from getting married remain a common practice in the Kingdom. Many women suffer as a result of this — something that is caused by tribal customs and financial reasons.

Wajeha Al-Howaider, a women’s rights activists and writer, said the Kingdom’s laws and customs give too much power to men over women, which severely curtails women’s basic rights in marrying, divorcing, choosing where to live and gaining education and jobs.

“Religious advice is not enough to end these practices,” she said. “This needs to be accompanied with an immediate government decision to prevent male guardians from taking away women’s right to making their own decisions.”

Sheikh Abdulaziz Al-Askar, a marriage registrar and professor of Islamic law at Imam Muhammad ibn Saud University, said that Islam affords women full rights to accept or refuse suitors.

“It’s unreasonable for two people to be thrown together and be expected to relate and be intimate when they don’t want each other,” he said. “And no one, even the father, has the right to prevent women from doing a religious duty such as a marriage.”

In 2005, the Council of Senior Ulema issued a decision banning the practice of forcing or preventing women from getting married. The council warned that anyone violating the decision could face jail. However, it seems that the decision is ignored or not fully applied in cities and rural areas across the Kingdom.

Al-Howaider said, “It’s been three years since the decision was made. However, we haven’t seen any further regulations and penalties.”

However, Asharq Al-Awsat newspaper reported in March last year that four Saudi courts are examining 213 cases brought by women seeking justice after their fathers prevented them from getting married.

Lawyer Adnan Al-Saleh said that although court procedures take a long time, this has not prevented victims from complaining. “If a father refuses to allow his daughter to get married, then the courts can send representatives to check on the man’s social and financial level and his reputation,” he said.

“Partner, as the courts see it, should be someone who is the most pious. If a suitor meets all requirements, then the custody of the woman will move from the father to the judge, who is authorized to conduct a marriage between the couple,” he said, adding that a girl does not need to come to court and can send one of her relatives on her behalf.