தாழ்ந்த அரபுஜாதி கணவரை மணந்ததற்காக விவாகரத்து கொடுக்கப்பட்ட பெண்

அரபியர்களின் ஜாதிவெறி காரணமாக கட்டாயமாக பிரிக்கப்பட்ட தம்பதியினர் சார்பாக பலரும் முறையீடு செய்திருக்கின்றனர்.
ஆனால் மன்னர் மனம் இன்னும் இரங்கவில்லை

Fatima and Mansour Still Have Hope, Says NSHR
Ebtihal Mubarak, Arab News


JEDDAH, 10 December 2007 — Fatima, the forcefully divorced wife and perhaps the most spoken about Saudi woman in the past two years, knows nothing of the International Human Rights Day, which is taking place today.

For seven months, Fatima, 34, has been living in a women’s refuge — with her two-year-old son Sulaiman — after agreeing to leave prison.

In a highly publicized case, a Saudi judge nullified Fatima’s marriage to Mansour Al-Timani, 37, on July 20, 2005. The court decision was issued after Fatima’s half brothers filed a divorce case saying that Mansour had lied about his tribal background.

However, by that time Fatima and Mansour were already parents of two children. Fatima remains in the refuge, and refuses to return into the custody of the men who arranged for her marriage to be nullified.

Hussein Al-Sharif, head of the National Society of Human Rights’ (NSHR) Western Province branch and a law professor at King Abdul Aziz University in Jeddah, said that although a higher court last January upheld the decision to nullify the marriage there is still a way out.

“The only legal way to end this family’s misery is for the king to intervene by asking the Supreme Judicial Council, the highest judicial authority in the Kingdom, to look at the case again,” he said.

Al-Sharif said that NSHR President Bandar Al-Hajjar sent an official letter to the Royal Court last September asking for the case to be reviewed. The NSHR provided along with the letter two studies, based on Islamic law, concluding that the divorce is invalid.

The studies have been undertaken by Adnan Al-Zahrani, a researcher in Islamic law, and Bassam Al-Bassam, a counselor at the Court of Cassation in Makkah.

The two studies, copies of which have been obtained by Arab News, provide sayings from the Prophet (peace be upon him) as well as Islamic scholars negating the Al-Jouf judge’s decision to nullify Mansour and Fatima’s marriage.

Both scholars agreed that if the woman’s legal guardian represented the bride during the original wedding contract, then other members of the family have no right to object to the marriage based on compatibility. Both studies stress that it is only the wife who can decide whether she wants her marriage to be annulled. Fatima married Mansour with the approval of her father.

However, for more than two years Fatima continues to yearn to be with Mansour. Since Arab News initially met her in November 2006 at Dammam Prison, Fatima continues to say, “I want to go back to my husband. I will never submit to anyone who wants to ruin my family.”

It seems that as the time passes, Fatima is becoming more resilient about her case. At the refuge, Fatima looks after her son Sulaiman and patiently awaits news on her case.

She is limited in how much she is allowed to venture out and is monitored. “I can hardly go outside and shop. If that happens, then I’m not allowed to go alone. The social workers say they fear my half brothers would see me outside,” said Fatima.

Since moving to the shelter, Fatima and Sulaiman have not seen Mansour nor Sulaiman’s elder sister Noha.

Last year Sulaiman celebrated his first birthday in prison and this Eid he will be at the shelter, which is more like an orphanage.

“Sometimes, I look at my son and wish I could get into his brain and know what this two-year-old could be possibly thinking?” said Fatima.

Fatima’s husband, Mansour, who lives temporarily in Riyadh with Noha, has not lost hope either. “I really wish our case reaches the council; if it did I’m sure they will rule for us getting back together,” he said.

In the same way that Fatima is suffering, Mansour is also. In July he was made to sign two gag orders by Dammam police preventing him from speaking to the press. When being made to sign the second gag order, Mansour was also detained with Noha.

After two years of separation, Mansour and Fatima have not lost hope of reuniting. “She is still my wife,” Mansour told Arab News, breaking the gag order.

“The best thing that happened to me is having children from Mansour. He will always be my husband and the father of my children,” said Fatima.