By Adnan Alshabrawi

Okaz/Saudi Gazette

JEDDAH — The family affairs court in Jeddah forced a father to obtain a passport for his daughter who wanted to travel abroad for higher studies.

The 24-year-old daughter filed a petition asking the court to remove her father from her guardianship. She stated that she had been living with her mother for more than 10 years and that she had not seen her father even once in six years.

The woman is an international recruitment major, which requires her to travel abroad for her studies.

The father was summonsed to the court by force after he refused to attend the hearing or even assign a representative in his place. More over he denied all the facts represented by his daughter and claimed that he had no reason to deny her the right to obtain a passport. Consequently the court ordered him to obtain a passport for her and hand it to her himself.

Lawyer Khalid Abu Rashid praised the decision by the court. He also commended the judicial reforms in favor of women, which allow them to obtain national ID and passports to travel abroad.

According to Article 32 of the pleading regulation system, the guardianship of women who face injustice can be removed from their guardian.

Lawyer and member in the Tarahum committee Nesreen Ali Al-Ghamdi said courts in Saudi Arabia issued judgments ensuring justice to women such as the right to issue a national ID, and the right to marry if their guardian is not cooperating.

Over the past two years the Ministry of Justice has regularly updated their regulations concerning women’s rights.

The Supreme Court and the Justice Ministry have been working hand in hand to reform the justice system particularly to allow women to enjoy their rights such as the custody of children and conferring guardianship to the court in place of the abusive relatives.