JEDDAH: The highly publicized case of a Saudi mother of five whose picture was published in the press holding up a court verdict obliging her to pay child support in return for a divorce from her abusive husband has been halted.
Amal, 42, whose name ironically means “hope” in Arabic, told Arab News earlier this year that she applied for divorce after her husband abused her for 15 years. Producing witnesses in court to corroborate her claims of abuse, Amal had agreed to hand over ownership of a plot of land to her husband to secure a khula divorce (an Islamic concept in which a woman is able to divorce her husband in exchange for something of value).
However, the judge who presided over her case would only issue the divorce if she — in addition to the land — financially supports her children until puberty. Her husband later took the children into his custody and forced her to pay SR3,000 each month. After nine months, Amal was left destitute and heavily in debt.
Amal’s lawyer, Sayed Al-Salek, who is representing her voluntarily after hearing about her story, said that Amal’s ex-husband failed to attend a court hearing last week.
“According to Saudi law, if the plaintiff fails to appear in court, the defendant has the right to ask the judge to close the case,” said Al-Salek, adding that the case has only been closed “temporarily” and that the husband has the right to reopen the case.
“But if he fails to appear for a second time, he can longer pursue the case unless the Supreme Judicial Council orders so,” he added.
Al-Salek said that if the husband pursues the case again, then his client has a good chance of winning. “I think there is a great deal of confusion in this case. She has asked for divorce, which she received in return for the land. However, there is no basis in obliging her to pay child support,” he said, adding that if Amal sought legal advice from the beginning she would not be in this position right now.
“I’m glad that this is almost over and I feel so much confident now that I have legal advice. I couldn’t afford lawyers when the case started and there was no one to guide me, not even the Kingdom’s human rights organizations,” said Amal.
Due to an absence of codified family law and legal advice that most women cannot afford, Amal’s story is representative of what many Saudi women face in terms of divorce and child custody.
