Egyptian woman divorces husband over COVID-19

Cairo: An Egyptian woman filed a divorce case against her husband, accusing him of harsh treatment after he had lost his job due to fallout from the COVID-19 pandemic, a local newspaper reported.

In her suit lodged with a local family court, the woman said they were married for seven years and had two children, according to Al Masry Al Youm newspaper.

The trouble started last year when the husband lost his job at a shoe workshop due to layoffs prompted by repercussions from the pandemic.

“His stay at home made him a nervous person hitting me because he was unable to support me and our two children,” she was quoted as saying. “He became so nervous that he would hit me for no reason,” she added.

The claimant said the husband’s ill-treatment made their life miserable and unbearable, prompting her to file a khula-style divorce case. The court approved the case and granted her divorce.

In 2000, Egypt adopted a law, based on the Islamic khula rule, giving the wife the right to divorce herself without the husband’s consent in return for giving up her financial entitlements.