Saudi woman awarded dowry 33 years after marriage

Cairo: A Saudi court has ordered a man to pay dowry to his ex-wife 33 years after they tied the knot, a Saudi newspaper has reported.

The case surfaced after the Saudi woman had filed a lawsuit at a personal status court claiming that she had married 33 years ago and had five children before the marriage recently ended without having obtained her dowry of SR50,000, Okaz added.

The woman told the court she had not earlier demanded the dowry because her ex-husband was a stock dealer and needed the cash for his business, but he did not keep his promise to pay her.

She added that he got divorced after he had married another woman.

For his part, the man denied at a court hearing the woman’s claim about not receiving her dowry, citing her silence about the issue for 33 years. He alleged that his remarriage had prompted his ex-wife to file the suit.

But the court ruled that the woman deserves to get the dowry stipulated in the marriage contract and ordered the man to pay it, the report said.

The verdict has become final after an appeals court ratified it.