Bahrain court revokes paternity of five children after DNA revelation ends 40-year marriage

Dubai: Bahrain’s High Sharia Court has ruled to disestablish the legal paternity of five children from a Bahraini man’s ex-wife, citing conclusive genetic evidence that he is not their biological father.

The ruling orders the annulment of all civil records linking the children to the man, including documents held by the Information and eGovernment Authority and the General Directorate of Nationality, Passports, and Residence.

The plaintiff, represented by attorney Ibtisam Al Sabbagh, had been married for nearly 40 years and raised the five children before discovering, following a health condition that rendered him infertile, that he could not have biologically fathered them.

Subsequent DNA testing conducted by the Public Prosecution’s Forensic Lab definitively excluded any biological relationship between him and the children.

The court deemed the genetic findings to hold “absolute legal and religious authority,” overriding earlier assumptions of paternity established through marriage.

The judgment stated that when scientific evidence proves a biological impossibility, the presumption of paternity under Islamic jurisprudence cannot stand.

“This is not just about the law; it’s about truth,” said attorney Al Sabbagh. “Despite the years he spent as a father, the biological reality has now been confirmed, and with it comes legal clarity.”

The court relied on principles from Ja’fari jurisprudence, which recognizes paternity through marital presumption, acknowledgment, and testimony but only when these do not contradict fundamental Islamic principles or irrefutable scientific facts.

As a result, the court ordered the removal of the man’s name from all official documents identifying him as the father and held government agencies accountable for amending the children's legal records accordingly.