JEDDAH: A Jeddah court has ruled in favor of a Somali woman who complained that the father of her girl, a Saudi, was refusing to recognize the child as his.
According to court documents, a judge ruled on Wednesday that there was sufficient evidence to prove the man was the biological father of the child. The names of the litigants in the case were not disclosed.
The Somali woman said the marriage took place about a year before the child was born. Permission from the Interior Ministry for the Saudi man to marry the foreign woman, however, took several months.
The mother submitted the official government marriage contract obtained a month before the child was born. The woman presented witnesses to corroborate the claim.
The court documents show that the judge ruled in favor of the woman and ordered the man to place the child on his family ID card. His wages are also being garnished to pay alimony to the woman for raising the child.
Children of foreign women who marry Saudi men must be listed on the father’s family ID card to be eligible for social entitlements, such as access to public hospital care. Children not listed on family ID cards also cannot enroll in school.
