“My client was punished with a four-month jail term for bringing his case to a local Arabic newspaper without due process, in violation of human rights, and above all contrary to the instructions of the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques who insists that individual rights should be guaranteed by the Saudi judicial system,” Al-Daham said.
Al-Daham narrated the case of Al-Shammari to this newspaper, which led to his (Al-Shammari’s) sentencing to four months in jail. “My client’s case started two years ago when his Syrian wife for ten years, with whom he has three children, received her Saudi nationality and went to a local judge in Jubail seeking for divorce, which was granted despite objection from my client,” Al-Daham said.
The human rights advocate said that ten days after the divorce was granted the judge ruled that his client vacate the house, was prohibited from visiting his children, and must pay all the electric, water, and telephone bills.
On top of these, he said the judge sent a letter to the employers of his client directing the employers to deduct SR3,000 from his monthly salary to be deposited to the account of the wife.
According Al-Daham, a year after the divorce, the wife married another man and handed over the house and the children to his client for him to administer and take care. “My client went to the judge who granted the divorce to inform him of the action of the previous wife and asked the judge to cancel his previous decision, particularly the care of the children. The judge informed my client that the previous decision was automatically canceled from the day the ex-wife remarried,” Al-Daham said.
Al-Daham said the judge also gave a letter to his client addressed to his employers stopping the deduction of the SR3000 monthly support. “My client returned to the house and took care of his three children.
He also subsequently remarried,” he said. According to Al-Daham, the unexpected happened. “Seven months later the ex-wife resurfaced, divorced again, and pregnant; she asked my client to leave and vacate the house once again. When my client refused to vacate the house and leave his children, the ex-wife went to the judge who granted their divorce.”
“My client was summoned by the judge and was told that the previous decision that was handed before the ex-wife remarried was still valid when in fact it was him – the judge – who said that decision was no longer enforced after the ex-wife remarried,” Al-Daham pointed out.
According to the human rights advocate, when his client argued at the judge’s court regarding the implementation of the old decision, he was sent to jail for 24 hours and was given one month to resettle his family.
“My client appealed to the Supreme Court in Riyadh against the decision restoring the previous judgment; he also talked to the local Arabic newspaper. It was the contact with the local Arabic newspaper that infuriated and enraged the judge to sentence my client to four months in jail, a judgment that contravened human rights and done without due process,” Al-Daham told the Saudi Gazette.
Al-Shammari, who is now in jail in Jubail for about two weeks, is hoping that the Saudi Supreme Court and the minister of justice will intervene fairly to resolve his case, according to Al-Daham, who added that under the Islamic law, the second husband should be responsible for the divorced ex-wife.
“But for speaking to the media, it is hard to believe that expressing his legitimate grievances has resulted in the harsh punishment of jail terms for my client,” said Al-Daham, who has represented many cases of human rights violations involving both citizens and expatriates.
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