Mom wins custody battle against alcoholic dad

The UAE supreme federal court overturned two previous court sentences and supported a legal battle by a mother seeking to regain custody of her four children from their alcoholic father, a newspaper said on Saturday.

The Iraqi father had won custody of the children, including little boys and girls, in two court cases and was about to depart to his country with them before his ex-wife resorted to the supreme court for a final verdict, 'Emarat Al Youm' said.

The unidentified woman presented evidence that her Moslem ex-husband is a heavy liquor drinker and that he had been previously convicted in the UAE in a drunkenness case that included 80 lashes.

The woman told the supreme court that she believes such a father can not be trusted in bringing up his children, especially that some of them are girls.

“The supreme court overturned the two previous sentences on the grounds the custodian must be trustworthy…it decided that a person with bad conduct can not be trusted to be a custodian and that children could become like him…the court established that if immorality will result in damage, then it will be in the interest of the children to be stripped off their custodian.”