Saudi family to be reunited after nearly five-year separation
By Abdel Wahab al-Saleh in Riyadh2010-02-02
Noha was about to turn one when the Al Jawf court, in northern Saudi Arabia, issued a ruling to separate her parents, Mansur al-Timani and Fatima al-Azzaz, until the matter of their tribal background is settled.
Noha had to experience the grief of her parents' separation. Meanwhile, her family has been homeless for the past five years.
Fatima and her four-year-old son, Suleiman, live in a shelter in the eastern side of the country, while Noha and her father live in Riyadh. Noha has only seen her brother in pictures, and she has not sat in her mother's lap for years. The long years of separation, however, will end soon.
On Wednesday (January 27th) the Saudi Supreme Court overturned the previous ruling by a court of appeals, which annulled the marriage on the grounds that the wife comes from a tribal background while the husband does not.
"I won't believe the ruling until we are reunited as a family," Mansur said in an interview with Al-Shorfa. His wife shared the same feeling, telling Al-Shorfa that she has not told her son yet "so that he doesn't have another emotional crisis".
The couple had been married in 2003 with the consent of Al-Azzaz’s father, as required under Saudi law, the Saudi Gazette reported. However, when her father died, her half brothers approached the court in Al-Jawf to dissolve the marriage, arguing that her husband, Al-Taimani, was of a so-called inferior class.
In July 2005, Mansur and Fatima's marriage was annulled by the court despite Fatima's testimony that she wished to remain with her husband. Suleiman was only three months-old when the ruling was issued.
But the media coverage and the local and international response that the story generated tipped the scales in Mansur and Fatima's favour.
"The extensive media coverage forced former Minister of Justice Abdullah Al Sheikh to promise a review of the case, but the review never happened," Fawziya al-Ouyouni, a member of the Association for Women's Rights told Al-Shorfa.
The couple's previous lawyer, Abdul Rahman al-Lahem, expressed his dissatisfaction with the first ruling and said in a press release that "this ruling is against the principles of sharia and rules of justice", saying that a woman's right to chose "is a fundamental right of the charter of human rights which Saudi Arabia has already recognized."
Lawyer Ahmad Al Sadiri, who is now handling the case, was able to forward the case to the Royal Court with the assistance of the Committee for Human Rights (a government agency). Saudi King Abdullah Ben Abdul Aziz ordered the Supreme Court to review the entire case.
Several gaps were found where the witnesses and judges based their judgment on provisions and laws that are more than 200 years old.
The fact that Fatima maintained that she had the right to choose her own husband, "played an extremely important role in the development of the case and its conclusion", said activist Fawziya al-Ouyouni, "especially her refusal to surrender to the daily threats against her for the past several years".
"Many official bodies were against Mansur during that time," al-Ouyouni said. "They confiscated his identity card and prohibited his daughter Noha from benefiting from the most basic rights such as going to school and living within a stable family."
"The little girl has nervous breakdowns and other psychological problems from being separated from her mother," al-Ouyouni said. "After spending more than nine months in the penitentiary of Dammam, she was later taken away from her mother to live with her father in Riyadh some 400 km away. Meanwhile, her mother lived in a shelter in Dammam with Suleiman, who hasn't seen his father and sister for the past few years."
"Who will give my children back the best days of their childhood that were stolen from them?" Mansur said। "And what justice allows that my babies sleep in prisons and shelters? I will not give up any of my children's rights which were stolen from them in the name of law, justice and the Islamic sharia."
By Abdel Wahab al-Saleh in Riyadh2010-02-02
Noha was about to turn one when the Al Jawf court, in northern Saudi Arabia, issued a ruling to separate her parents, Mansur al-Timani and Fatima al-Azzaz, until the matter of their tribal background is settled.
Noha had to experience the grief of her parents' separation. Meanwhile, her family has been homeless for the past five years.
Fatima and her four-year-old son, Suleiman, live in a shelter in the eastern side of the country, while Noha and her father live in Riyadh. Noha has only seen her brother in pictures, and she has not sat in her mother's lap for years. The long years of separation, however, will end soon.
On Wednesday (January 27th) the Saudi Supreme Court overturned the previous ruling by a court of appeals, which annulled the marriage on the grounds that the wife comes from a tribal background while the husband does not.
"I won't believe the ruling until we are reunited as a family," Mansur said in an interview with Al-Shorfa. His wife shared the same feeling, telling Al-Shorfa that she has not told her son yet "so that he doesn't have another emotional crisis".
The couple had been married in 2003 with the consent of Al-Azzaz’s father, as required under Saudi law, the Saudi Gazette reported. However, when her father died, her half brothers approached the court in Al-Jawf to dissolve the marriage, arguing that her husband, Al-Taimani, was of a so-called inferior class.
In July 2005, Mansur and Fatima's marriage was annulled by the court despite Fatima's testimony that she wished to remain with her husband. Suleiman was only three months-old when the ruling was issued.
But the media coverage and the local and international response that the story generated tipped the scales in Mansur and Fatima's favour.
"The extensive media coverage forced former Minister of Justice Abdullah Al Sheikh to promise a review of the case, but the review never happened," Fawziya al-Ouyouni, a member of the Association for Women's Rights told Al-Shorfa.
The couple's previous lawyer, Abdul Rahman al-Lahem, expressed his dissatisfaction with the first ruling and said in a press release that "this ruling is against the principles of sharia and rules of justice", saying that a woman's right to chose "is a fundamental right of the charter of human rights which Saudi Arabia has already recognized."
Lawyer Ahmad Al Sadiri, who is now handling the case, was able to forward the case to the Royal Court with the assistance of the Committee for Human Rights (a government agency). Saudi King Abdullah Ben Abdul Aziz ordered the Supreme Court to review the entire case.
Several gaps were found where the witnesses and judges based their judgment on provisions and laws that are more than 200 years old.
The fact that Fatima maintained that she had the right to choose her own husband, "played an extremely important role in the development of the case and its conclusion", said activist Fawziya al-Ouyouni, "especially her refusal to surrender to the daily threats against her for the past several years".
"Many official bodies were against Mansur during that time," al-Ouyouni said. "They confiscated his identity card and prohibited his daughter Noha from benefiting from the most basic rights such as going to school and living within a stable family."
"The little girl has nervous breakdowns and other psychological problems from being separated from her mother," al-Ouyouni said. "After spending more than nine months in the penitentiary of Dammam, she was later taken away from her mother to live with her father in Riyadh some 400 km away. Meanwhile, her mother lived in a shelter in Dammam with Suleiman, who hasn't seen his father and sister for the past few years."
"Who will give my children back the best days of their childhood that were stolen from them?" Mansur said। "And what justice allows that my babies sleep in prisons and shelters? I will not give up any of my children's rights which were stolen from them in the name of law, justice and the Islamic sharia."
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