TAIF: Forced into an abusive marriage to an older man at 15 years of age, a divorcee in Taif has said she has been “abandoned” by sheikhs, police, courts, and a human rights organization as she bids to overrule her father and marry the person of her choice. Now 30 years old, the woman - who preferred not to reveal her name – says that all her pleadings to her father to let her marry her cousin have been to no avail. “He forced me to get married to a much older man just over 15 years ago. The whole time my husband used to abuse me verbally and physically, and when I ran away back to my father I would get the same treatment, until in the end I would be tied up,” she said. When her husband divorced her, her father then forced her to show her face in supposed pre-engagement meetings with suitors as per Shariah practice, for which she claimed her father charged them SR500. “My father kept forcing me to go back to my husband's, even though he had pronounced divorce five times, and would take money from him for it.” When she could stand things no longer, she went to Jizan Court and obtained official divorce papers, after which she went to live with her grandmother. “I asked to get married to my cousin, he's a good man and he wants to marry me,” she said. “But my father wouldn't let me.” Efforts from relatives and tribal sheikhs failed, and so she turned to Taif Police. “They passed the case on to court, but the court said I'd have to go to a court in Riyadh where my father is a resident.” She then approached the Taif Governorate and the National Society for Human Rights (NSHR), but they also told her to go to court. “How can I go to Riyadh to file a complaint when I have no legal guardian? That's why I'm appealing to the press, as I have nowhere left to turn,” she said. “I'm living with my grandmother and don't want to have to go back to my father who is abusive.” Her cousin confirmed he wished to marry her. “We've tried to persuade her father to let us but he won't, and he won't give any good reason for his refusal,” he said. An official from the NSHR said the organization had received a complaint from the woman stating that she had been subject to domestic violence and prevented from marrying the person of her choice. “The president of the NSHR, Muflih Al-Qahtani, has ordered the Women's Department to look into the case and try and bring about an amicable settlement with the father,” the official said.
