Kuwait's first sex change case verdict on October 11

In its first transsexual case the Kuwaiti Court of Appeals has listened to arguments over why Kuwaiti national Ahmad should or shouldn't be allowed to change his legal status and henceforth be called Amal.

In defence of his 28-year old client Kuwaiti lawyer Adil Yayha told Gulf News, "Ahmad biologically needed to become a woman and underwent a series of operations in 2001 outside the country to live his life as a complete female".

Ahmad, an employee of the ministry of health, won his case in a lower Kuwaiti Court last April when his right to change his legal status from Ahmad to Amal was approved. The father of Ahmad and the government along with a group of Islamist lawyers contested the verdict and filed a case in the Court of Appeals alleging that Ahmad was never effeminate, it was not really a medical necessity and it contravenes the tenets of Sharia under which the changing of one's sex at will is not a permissible personal freedom.

The appellate court also heard from the plaintiffs that medical reports have proved that Ahmad is still biologically male.

In his client's defence Yahya said, "Forensic and other medical reports prove that Amal is a complete female" and contested the suggestion that Ahmad underwent major surgery and put himself through all the trouble and negative publicity on a whim.

In statements to the local press Amal has said the matter has nothing to do with religion but is rather one of personal freedom.

"I am a good Muslim woman, I pray five times a day and just because I want to legally live as a woman does not make me a deviant," she said.

Amal also said she has filed suit against her father for failing to pay attention to her when she was a child.

The Appeals Court was presented with documents of similar cases around the world because Kuwait has no legal precedent in the case.

Judge Younus Al Yassin has decided to issue a verdict on October 11.