JEDDAH, Saudi Arabia, Feb. 5 A group of Saudi women has filed a petition asking King Abdullah to reinstate the marriage of a couple forced to divorce under Islamic law.
An appeals court in Saudi Arabia upheld the divorce of Fatima and Mansour Al-Timani on grounds that Mansour lied about his tribal background to Fatima's family in order to marry her three years ago, Saudi Arab News reports.
Fatima, 37, has been jailed along with her youngest child for refusing to return to her family after the court ordered her divorce.
When the divorce is carried out with the couple's approval then this is just the way it happens all over the world, says human rights activist Fawziya Al-Ouyoni, one of the women behind the petition. But when the divorce is forced on the couple with an order from a high court then that is a massive disaster.The petition to King Abdullah calls for guidelines to ensure rejection of divorce cases that are taken to court by parties other than husband and wife.
Copyright 2007 by UPI
