(MENAFN- Brazil-Arab News Agency (ANBA))
São Paulo – Saudi Arabia is to allow single, divorced or widowed women to live alone without permission from father or any other male guardian, or wali according to Islamic law. The guardians are usually close male relatives such as an uncle or a brother. The historic ruling gives Saudi women the freedom to live independently in a separate house without the consent of any man.
Judicial authorities in the Arab country scrapped Paragraph B under article No. 169 of the ''Law of Procedure before Sharia Courts,'' which stated that an adult single, divorced or widowed woman should be handed over to her male guardian. The amendment will enable single women to stay in their own separate accommodation, Makkah Newspaper and other local press outlets reported.
According to lawyer Naif Al-Mansi, as quoted by a local newspaper, ''Families can no longer file lawsuits against their daughters who choose to live alone.'' He said courts will no longer accept such cases, which had been given a priority earlier. Courts have already been ruling in favor of women who for some reason filed lawsuits to have the right to live alone or who had been prosecuted by their relatives for it.
Earlier this year, Saudi Arabia allowed women aged 18 years and over to change their name on their ID card without their guardian's permission. The authorities also lifted travel restrictions on Saudi women in 2019, whereby women over the age of 21 are allowed to apply for passports and travel freely. The year before, Saudi women were allowed to drive, ending a controversial decades-old ban.
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These legal developments are part of the country's so-called Vision 2030, an initiative by crown prince Mohammed Bin Salman aiming to diversify the economy and steer the kingdom towards a more ''moderate form of Islam.'' The government has implemented the reforms gradually.
*With information from newspaper Gulf News and Middle East Monitor.
Translated by Guilherme Miranda
Giuseppe Cacace/AFP
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