‘Battered’ wife jailed for leaving husband

The plight of a Saudi woman imprisoned for refusing to return home to her allegedly abusive husband has gained the attention of social media users and prompted calls for stronger laws to protect women.
The incident involves 51-year-old Mariam Manalo, a Saudi citizen of Filipino origin, and the mother of three women aged 22, 21 and 15.
Manalo’s case raised the ire of social media users after police jailed her when her husband filed charges against her for absenteeism from their home. Manalo refused to return home, preferring to remain in prison.
However, a police official told Arab News that Manalo was released without conditions since the case was considered a family dispute. Late last night, Manalo was awaiting her release papers from police.
Nawaf Albouq, a police spokesman, said in a telephone interview that Manalo was at odds with her husband and had been absent from her home for three months.
Her absence prompted her husband to file an “absenteeism from home” complaint against her with the police. Such reports can be filed by the male guardian in the event any female dependent leaves from home without permission. Manalo was taken into custody at her place of employment in a Jeddah’s commercial center.
“At the police station, she was asked whether she intended to return to her husband and put an end to accountability, but she refused,” Albouq said. “This, in turn, led them to charge her with ‘rebellion.’”
Manalo was not available for comment since she was not permitted to speak to anyone while in custody. The husband could not be reached for comment.
Manalo was taken to the Bureau of Investigation and Public Prosecution where she was scheduled to be released late last night without bail because it proved to be a family dispute. However, since the couple are still married, the matter is now in the hands of the husband.
He is responsible for the handling of the case on whether to refer their case for consideration by a judge. The judge may order the couple to either reconcile or separate.
Modi Battarji, owner of the boutique where Manalo worked, said the woman had been employed for three months. Her supervisor did not notice any unusual behavior. She was honest, sincere, cooperative, energetic and committed to her job, Battarji said.
Battarji also said that the Manalo told her employer about her domestic situation on her first day of work and her need for the job to secure a steady income and housing to enable her divorce her husband.
“We were in the process of collecting money to help her with the divorce proceedings through a lawyer,” Battarji said. “The lawyer asked for SR 20,000 to take the case, an amount that Mariam didn’t have, but we were surprised when two days ago a pair of policemen who took her to the police department, and I in turn sent a staff member of our human resources to the police department to speak with whoever was responsible there. But an officer told him that Mariam would not be released, and that she had to either go back to her husband or she would be transferred to Braiman prison.”
Khuloud Saleh Alfahad, who is working as a liaison between Manalo and the National Society for Human Rights, said in a telephone interview with Arab News that Manalo’s case is not unique.
Alfahad said that the absence of any law to protect women in Saudi Arabia worsens the situation of individuals like Manalo.
“The Ministry of Interior must establish laws to protect women, otherwise it would seem as if women’s issues are only tools to distract the public,” Alfahad said.
The National Society for Human Rights addressed 370 cases of family violence, of which 95 cases were against children, from a total of 4,692 complaints received, according to the organization
Domestic violence cases accounted for 16 percent of the cases the organization received in 2011 compared with 17 percent in the previous year. Domestic violence on the part of husbands, which is the most common, stands at 37 percent, followed by violence by fathers at 27 percent. Physical and psychological violence is most common, accounting for 72 percent of all complaints.