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Men divorcing wives via text message sparks outrage

by This email address is being protected from spam bots, you need Javascript enabled to view it  on Tuesday, 29 July 2008
TEXT FURY: Women's rights groups are calling for laws to halt Muslim men divorcing their wives by text message. (Getty Images)

Bahraini women’s rights groups are calling for new laws to halt a growing regional trend of Muslim men divorcing their wives by text message, it has emerged.

Fatima Al-Rabea, Bahrain Women's Union member, said it was wrong men could legally divorce their wives in such a spontaneous and inhumane way, Bahrain’s Gulf Daily News reported on Tuesday.

A family law should be introduced to ensure that husbands divorce their wives in an ethical manner and that they provide for them and their children, she said.

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The union is preparing to submit to the government a draft for a family law by the end of July.

The draft of the law, called the Personal Status Law, aims to govern family matters and improve the situation of Bahrain's women.

It has been put together by the union, with submissions from various women's societies, the newspaper said.

A Sharia Court in Malaysia recently ruled that a Muslim man had legally divorced his wife by sending her a text message.

In another case, an Egyptian woman is seeking clarification from a court on whether her husband's declaration of divorce via text message was legally valid.

There were also several accounts of husbands who had declared divorce to their wives by text message only to take them back after regretting their decision in Saudi Arabia.

Al-Rabea said she was appalled that husbands were being allowed to divorce their wives just by sending them a text message.

Al-Rabea said, according to Islam, if a husband wanted to divorce his wife, he must say she is divorced three times and it should be in front of a witness. The husband should then confirm it in court.

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