Justice Minister Walid Al-Samaan, who is the chairman of the Supreme Judicial Council (SJC), approved a proposal by the council asking courts to hold special evening sessions to marry women who are without male guardians or those who have been subjected to adl (refusal of marriage by the male guardian). Press reports on Wednesday said the minister sent a circular on the proposal to the family affairs courts all over the Kingdom. He said a number of judges pointed out that many bridegrooms felt embarrassed to conclude marriage contracts with such women in public view and preferred the greater privacy of court sessions in the evenings. The minister said if the bridegroom requested a special evening session, the chairman of the court should appoint a judge to come in the evening for the purpose. He said the proposal was made to the Supreme Judicial Council by a number of judges who participated in a program for domestic violence held recently in Riyadh. According to the ministry's sources, courts in the Kingdom last year documented a total of 10,223 marriage contracts for women who had no male guardians or who were prevented from getting married by their guardians. They said the marriage contracts for women without male guardians constituted about 6.7 percent of a total of 152,627 marriage contacts concluded last year. The sources said Makkah with 6,959 contracts had the highest number of marriage contracts concluded without male guardians, followed by Riyadh with 1,233 and Jazan 835. They said there were 463 such contracts in Najran, 293 in Asir, 207 in Madinah, 45 in Qassim, 153 in the Eastern Province, 21 in Hail, five in Baha, three in Al-Jouf and two in Tabuk.
