The National Society for Human Rights (NSHR) is looking into a court case that has been suspended indefinitely as the former husband of a woman seeking divorce alimony has failed to attend any of the hearings. The woman lodged a complaint against the Taif General Court over its failure to pronounce a verdict despite holding four hearings. Hussein Al-Shareef of the NSHR in the region of Makkah, said that society was looking into the validity of the complaint filed and would demand that the correct regulatory procedures be followed to produce a verdict in absentia or to summon the defendant to court. “The issue is particularly urgent since the case concerns alimony for the defendant's children who are being affected by the delays,” Al-Shareef said. The woman's lawyer, Rizqallah Al-Thaqafi, said that all legal procedures had been exhausted regarding the number of hearings permitted. “The absence of the defendant from the hearings led the court to refuse to pronounce a verdict,” Al-Thaqafi said. “They neither issued a verdict in absentia nor issued a summons for the police to bring him by force. The whole picture is unclear now, and we don't know in which direction the case is heading.” The lawyer and his client say they turned to the NSHR to intervene after seeing no end to the court case and receiving no child maintenance for seven years.
