மேல்ஜாதி பெண்ணை திருமணம் செய்தால் விவாகரத்தா?

மேல்ஜாதி பெண்ணை திருமணம் செய்ததால், கட்டாய விவாகரத்து கொடுக்கப்பட்ட மன்சூர் அல் டிமானி அவர்களுக்கு தொல்லை அதிகரிக்கிறது.

இவர் இந்த வழக்கை பற்றி பேசக்கூடாது என்று இவர் மீது கேக்-ஆர்டர் சவுதி அரசாங்கத்தால் கொடுக்கப்பட்டுள்ளது.

நன்றி அரபு நியூஸ்

Forcibly Divorced Husband Made to Sign Gag Order
Ebtihal Mubarak, Arab News


JEDDAH, 3 July 2007 — The story of the forcibly divorced couple Fatima and Mansour that shocked the Saudi street for over a year has not found closure and, according to the husband in the case, has continued with his unjustified detention and coercion in signing a gag order that the National Society of Human Rights says is illegal.

In this highly publicized case, a judge nullified Fatima’s marriage to Mansour Al-Timani on July 20, 2005 after her family intervened that the husband had lied about his tribal background. By the time the legal action against the couple was instigated by the wife’s half-brothers, the husband and wife were the parents of two children. The wife and younger child remain in a women’s shelter because she refuses to return to the custody of the men who intervened on her marriage, which has been sanctioned under Islam but apparently not on tribal grounds.

The elder daughter is living with her father in Alkhobar. Because a judge officiated the divorce imposed on the wife and husband by the wife’s half-brothers, Fatima cannot legally return to Al-Timani’s custody because the husband is no longer considered such by the courts, and therefore he cannot have legal custody of her. (Under Saudi law, all women regardless of age can only be returned to their legal male guardian, or mahram, who must be a relative by blood or marriage, or, in some cases where legal custody is being disputed, a court judge.)

On June 26, Al-Timani, 37, said that he spent three hours in detention at an Alkhobar police station. Two undercover officers knocked on his door at around 10:30 p.m. and asked him to come along peacefully lest they take him by force. They allegedly didn’t specify the charges.

“I refused to go at first, asking ‘what’s my crime?’ and how can I take my little daughter with me there?’ I didn’t want to make a scene late at night so I had no choice but to obey them.”

While in detention, Al-Timani told Arab News that he was told at the police station that he must sign a gag order preventing him from speaking about his case any further with the press. He said they showed him the order that obliged him to sign such a pledge that he says allegedly came from a high authority.

“The order is dated June 20,” said Al-Timani. “I just wanted to get out of there. That’s not the right place for a child to be. She should be in her bed not in a room in a police station.” So, he says, he signed the document. Then the police allegedly didn’t let him go, saying a court in Dammam had summoned him and that he should stay in a jail cell overnight. It wasn’t until a police investigator felt sympathy after seeing a young girl and her father in custody that he persuaded his fellow investigators to let them go home. “If it weren’t for him I would have stayed that night there with my child in the detention center,” said Al-Timani.

Arab News has tried to contact the officials in Alkhobar since Wednesday to get a response to Al-Timani’s statements. Local officials referred us to Col. Yousif Al-Qahtani, a police spokesman for the Eastern Province. Yesterday, after a week of phone calls to get authorities to reply to Al-Timani’s claims, Arab News was able to confirm that Al-Timani was indeed escorted to a police station to sign the pledge not to speak to the press. “That’s true,” said Al-Qahtani. “Al-Timani was asked to come at the police station and signed that pledge due to a higher official’s orders.”

The colonel wouldn’t name the official, but shed some light on the possible reasons for the action against Al-Timani; he said that Fatima’s family members complained to a high official that Al-Timani’s statements to the press are harming the reputation and family name.

Hussein Al-Sharif, the head of NSHR in the western region, who is also a professor of Saudi law at King Abdul Aziz University, said that the detention for three hours and forcing him to sign a pledge not to speak to the press is against the law and violations of his personal rights.

“If it’s a court (gag) order that states he can’t speak to the media, then it’s totally within their (the court’s) rights. But no other authority can play the role of the judge.”

He added that Al-Timani being called to the police center is OK if it follows legal procedures.

“But I wonder were there anyone from the Social Affairs Ministry, like a social worker, at the time of the arrest to provide care for the child?” he asked. “If not, then they also abused the child’s personal rights by taking her to the police station all of a sudden at night.”

Al-Timani said he would be sending today an official complaint to the NSHR. After receiving it they will contact officials and inquire about it, said Al-Sharif.

Al-Sharif said that the NSHR is soon to present a complete study on the Fatima and Mansour forced-divorce case from both legal and Shariah side and present it to the king.

“King Abdullah can then assign the Higher Justice of Court to look at the case one more time,” he said. Since last March a committee at the Justice Ministry has been studying the issue of forced divorces on tribal grounds.