A Saudi girl disowned by her father ten years ago is insisting on her father undergoing a DNA test in order to ascertain her own identity. The mother and an uncle of Fatimah, the Saudi girl, have moved the court to order the DNA test of the father who refused to give his name to the girl after accusing his wife of adultery. The disowning of the girl stems from the deep marital discord between the man and his wife, said Haif'a Khalid, the creator of Saudi Divorce Initiative website. The website on Saturday launched a campaign under the theme “No blackmail for children by Le'an, all of us with Fatimah.” Le'an is an Arabic word that means a man denies paternity of the child and accuses his wife of adultery. “Fatimah's mother, 48, has nine children from her 70-year old husband. The husband treated her badly, beat her and threw her out of the house. She asked for a divorce which was granted in 1983,” said Khalid. Although Fatimah's mother remarried her former husband, he has continued to mistreat her. “She agreed to remarry her former husband in order to save her family, hoping to have a better life with him after five years of divorce. But nothing changed,” added Khalid. Fatimah's mother opted to file a case in court asking her husband to give her enough allowance for her children as well as for renting an apartment near her family's house in south Dhahran. The court issued a decision in her favor, when, suddenly, she discovered that she was pregnant. Even during those delicate days, her husband continued to beat her mercilessly, she said. “I was pregnant in 1990, but he continued to beat me which made my case precarious,” she added. “That is why my children called their maternal uncle seeking his help to save me,” the mother said. According to Khalid, the mother's brother arrived home with the Dhahran police, and asked the husband to divorce his wife in front of the police and neighbors. “Before the divorce was documented, he went to the court, accused his wife of adultery and disowned the girl,” she added. “Three witnesses from the husband's side gave different dates for the second marriage which created confusion in the court,” she said. According to Khalid, the DNA test can resolve the paternity issue, but the father refuses to undergo the paternity test. “We have tried to persuade him to go for the DNA test, but he refused. Our campaign is aimed at forcing him to have the test soon,” Khalid said. Fatimah, she said, cannot take her legal and official rights unless it is proved that she is the legitimate child.
