JEDDAH, 20 December 2006 — An 18-year-old Indonesian woman sought the help of her country’s embassy in Riyadh for a divorce from her abusive husband only to find out that her marriage with the elderly Saudi was not recognized and she is in the Kingdom actually as his maid, Arab News has learned.
Noor Aysha Bukhari came crying to the embassy last week after less than three months of living under the impression that she was married to F.S., who she claims abused her and forced her to serve his two other Saudi wives and his children.
The lawyer retained by the embassy, Nasser Al-Dandani, confirmed the case to Arab News and said that Indonesian officials would follow up on it and provide proof that the couple got married in Indonesia.
“We will then go to court to persuade him to admit the marriage and consequently divorce her and compensate her,” said the lawyer.
The marriage would still be considered illegal in Saudi Arabia because he never registered it with the authorities and brought Bukhari into the country on a domestic servant visa.
The young woman came to the embassy a few days ago complaining of her husband’s mistreatment and seeking a divorce.
Bukhari says that she occupied a room on the second floor of F.S.’s house where, during the day, she took care of his three children from his first marriage and served his second wife and three other children, and in the evening she played the role as the man’s third wife.
Saudi men often take second wives, according to social custom, creating insecurity for first wives.
F.S. initially admitted to the marriage, but later denied it, according to a source close to the case who did not want to be named.
“He is refusing to admit the marriage unless she pays him back a loan of SR3,200 he claims to have given her family because of their poor financial situation,” said the source, adding that this “loan” was actually the dowry the man paid to marry the woman in Indonesia.
This is not an individual case although such cases are not very common, according to sources. A few months ago a local newspaper reported that an Indonesian woman came as a maid to look for her son from her Saudi ex-husband who married her in Indonesia, then divorced her and took her son.
It is common for Saudi men to marry Indonesian women temporarily through misyar (“no obligation”) marriages and divorce them after paying a relatively small sum, which to the poor women and their families makes a big difference.
Al-Watan newspaper recently wrote that 89 percent of Saudi households have at least one maid. The total number of domestic workers is well over 1 million, including Bangladeshis, Indians, Filipinos, Ethiopians, Indonesians, Nepalese and Sri Lankans.
