Hayat Al-Ghamdi; 19/3/08
A woman in her 50s from the southern town of Khamis Mushayt is appealing to the region’s governor to intervene to break off her marriage to a man she says has abused her on numerous occasions. “I have no option but to seek the mercy of the governor after the Shariah court rejected my plea for divorce from my husband who had been torturing me both mentally and physically,” Um Hassan told Arab News yesterday.The woman claims the judge told her that her only option was “khula,” a form of divorce initiated by women that requires them to reimburse dowry paid to them by their husbands at the time of marriage. But Um Hassan says that she has given the best years of her life to her husband and shouldn’t have to pay him anything now that he considers her past her prime.
