Arab News, Friday, 8, September, 2006 (15, Sha`ban, 1427)
Many Yemeni Women Fooled Into Fake Marriages by Arab
Expatriates
SANAA, 8 September 2006 — It is said of some married couples that their
relationship is so bad that it's "marriage in name only." Now some Yemeni women are
learning that their marriages to Saudis and men from Gulf states aren't even that.
Yemeni authorities are expressing concern over women who marry men from
neighboring countries only to be left behind later when the men go back home, the
daily Al-Watan reported.
Unbeknownst to these women, the men, from Gulf countries and Saudi Arabia, hide
their marriages from authorities in their countries to shirk any legal responsibility.
Ramla, a twenty-something Yemeni from the city of Eb, said she had been married for
less than a month before her Saudi husband disappeared back to the Kingdom.
"A friend of my family introduced me to a young Saudi man and said about the guy's
good qualifications," said Ramla. "I thought of him as being the right man and we got
married. He promised to take me with him to the Kingdom; however he left and never
came back." Ramla said his phone numbers and even his name, Mohammed
Abdullah, had been fabricated.
Hayat, another Yemeni woman from Sanaa, said she was married for three years to a
Saudi man who "traveled a lot". She said he left once and never returned. She found
out later he had bribed a Yemeni judge with SR2,000 ($533) not to certify the marriage
contract.
Abdu Hamud Saleh, a judge in a Yemeni court, said there are many families who
agree to marry their daughters to foreigners without asking for authorized marriage
contracts. "I have received many offers to do such contracts," he said. "But I refused
to do any contract of marriage unless it is confirmed by the Saudi Embassy, the
Saudi Interior Ministry, and the Ministry of Justice in Yemen. Further there is a need
to provide proof of employment to ensure that he can provide a sufficient income for
his family."
After her Saudi husband disappeared, Rasha filed for divorce on her own, still unsure if
the man she married died in some accident, or simply walked away and returned to
Saudi Arabia, and maybe had another wife.
She said she regrets not following through with proper procedure, which might have
chased off any man scheming to fool a woman into an unauthorized marriage.
"Unfortunately many families and women do not know or bother about official
documents," she said.
"My husband had left me one night, without telling me where he is going. Later,
however, I received a call from his friend telling me that everything had ended
Therefore, I went to the judge, carrying with me my marriage contract which was
written by a justice person, to be able to get my divorce," she added.
Meanwhile, many Yemeni men are unable to afford marriage, which in Arab countries
usually involves convincing the would-be in-laws that you can provide for a family, and
pay an often-hefty dowry and most of the wedding expenses.
A small cottage industry has popped up in Yemen in recent years where for a small
SR2 or SR3 fee (less than a dollar) Yemeni men can pose in a groom's chair (the
traditional seat of a groom in a Arab wedding ceremony) among wedding decorations.
This service is being offered by a group of photographers in Sanaa's Al-Tahreer Park.
Tahir Ahmad, a cameraman said that he takes more that 50 of these faked wedding
photos every day; most of his customers are between the age of 16 and 26.
He says that most of his customers simply want a picture of themselves as grooms,
and he doesn't believe that they're using them for any deceitful purposes. "It's more a
novelty than anything else," he said.
Fuad Hamud Abdu, a 24-year-old Yemeni, who had just posed for his glamour shot
said he thought he might play a joke on his friends, all of whom are unmarried, he
said, and in their late teens to early twenties.
"Posing for this picture, it gives me a little taste of what it would feel like (to get
married), especially when the cameraman congratulates me warmly," he said.
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