Dr. Saleh Bin Abdul Rahman Al-Yusuf, President of the General Court in Al-Khobar Governorate, has said divorce cases constitute about 10 percent of the total cases received by the court. Cases involving preventing girls from getting married stand at three percent and cases of forced divorce (Khul'a) are eight percent, he said. Al-Yusuf said the General Court in Al-Khobar studies each case separately. In other words, each judge gives the case some of his time before resorting to divorce or Khul'a (in which the woman demands divorce from the husband and the judge approves the divorce). He pointed out that the efforts of the judges to reconcile couples has helped in closing the files of 40 percent of divorce cases. Al-Yusuf said the recent meeting of marriage officials dealt with the marriage of underaged girls and focused on preventing the completion of legal procedures related to such marriage contracts.
