Saudi woman sues father for blocking marriage

A 40-year-old Saudi doctor is suing her father following his refusal to approve her marriage so he will not lose her monthly salary, a local daily said on Monday.

A court in the eastern Red Sea port of Jeddah had turned down the woman’s complaint, prompting her to appeal against that sentence on the grounds she could not get married because of her father’s refusal.

The woman, who was not named, told court that her father takes her SR20,000 (Dh19,500) monthly salary and gives her only SR300 a month.

“The father has rejected the man who proposed to the woman despite her acceptance,” her lawyer, Ahmed Al Sudairi, told Saudi Gazette.

“The father alleges that he knew his daughter has illegal relations with the man, moving him to decline the marriage proposal. This is a false accusation.”

The paper said the woman had treated the suitor’s father in the hospital and that they used to see each other every time the man brought his father for examination.

“Then the man asked her to marry him. There is no harm in this because a man is allowed, according to the Shariah, to see the woman he is going to marry. This is not a case of illicit seclusion,” Sudairi said.

He said by taking his daughter’s salary the father has transformed her into an “investment”, adding that the woman has also sought help from the Social Protection Home due to her father’s “cruelty and humiliation”.