However, the woman in her 70s, identified as Saliha, is still to regain her share of the estate as well as her personal belongings that she lost after a court ruled against her.
The Jeddah Lawyers Committee has decided to support her and plans to approach the Court of Grievances seeking compensation for what they claim was an illegal detention.
Ghazi bin Hassan Al-Sabban, president of the committee, said his team would fight her case on two grounds. One is the length of her three-month imprisonment and whether she committed any crime to warrant a jail term.
The second is the question of who will bear responsibility for her imprisonment as she was supposed to be detained for 48 hours only.
Saliha was taken into custody following her refusal to vacate her villa in line with a court order.
When she refused to attend court sessions examining the dispute, the Jeddah General Court issued a ruling in absentia. The court ordered the woman to vacate the villa, sell it and divide the proceeds among various inheritors in accordance with Islamic law.
When she refused to comply, she was asked either to hand over the villa or face jail. The court later ordered officers to detain her for 48 hours and evict her. Later, when she went out of the house to look into hiring a maid, she was taken into custody.
However, she inexplicably remained in prison for three months. The only relief for Saliha was that her inability to read and write did not impede her capability to memorize three parts of the Holy Qur'an while she was languishing in a prison cell.
Saliha is now living at a shelter for elderly women run by Al-Birr Charity Society of Jeddah.
Dr. Abdullah Al-Tawi, director of the social affairs department in Makkah province, said his department is currently studying her case. “She underwent extensive medical checkups at the shelter where she is living now,” he said.
Bayan Zahran, a woman lawyer appointed to do legal follow up work on the widow’s case, said the committee tried to contact the judge who presided over the hearings to find out the whereabouts of her personal belongings, including ornaments, gold, utensils and furniture at the villa.
“The judge was not present at the court. So we will take up the matter with the head of the court,” she said.
Zahran will represent the Tarahum Committee formed by the Lawyers Committee to take care of the prisoners.
She said Saliha was detained beyond the stipulated 48 hours in contravention of the law, adding she did not commit any crime that warranted such a long time in custody.
The lawyer also pointed out that there is a document in Saliha’s custody that showed her husband borrowed SR500,000 from her in the presence of two witnesses. Tarahum has obtained a copy of the document.
Saliha failed to attend the court hearings to show this evidence before a ruling was issued.
“The judge was not in a position to set aside a portion of the dead man’s estate for payment of the debt that he owed to none other than his wife. The judge was totally unaware of this matter before pronouncing his judgment in absentia,” Zahran added.
Zahran disclosed that Tarahum would file an appeal asking to ensure Saliha was paid back what she was owed by her late husband.
“The committee will ask the court to refer the document to a panel of experts in order to verify its authenticity. We will also contact the concerned judge to ensure that the personal belongings are returned to the widow as they are not affected by the court verdict. The woman was also not in a position to collect them as she had been in jail,” she said.
Saliha was reportedly evicted from her villa where she lived for about 40 years and thrown into jail thanks to her brothers-in-law after she refused to give in to their demands for a share of the inheritance left by her late husband.
Although the woman’s husband bought the villa using a sizable portion of her wealth, the deed and the ownership documents were in his own name. The couple did not have any children, and this helped his brothers win the civil lawsuit.
