 JEDDAH, Saudi Arabia - An elderly Saudi man dropped dead in court after it banned him from stopping his three daughters from getting married, newspapers reported on Sunday.
The man apparently had a heart attack once the cassation court judge in the Muslim holy city of Mecca told the three spinsters women, aged 36, 39 and 40, that they could marry over their fatherÂ’s objections, Okaz reported.
| How in the world did they make 36 and beyond? Were there no suitors when they were 6, 9 and 10? |
The man had won a ruling from a lower court enforcing his right to prevent his daughters from marrying, as women in the ultra-conservative kingdom need the consent of a male guardian. The women whose father had on several occasions turned down their requests to marry can now marry ‘honest men’ who follow their religious duties, the Islamic court ruled, according to Al Madina newspaper.
| Honest men. Honest men with guns. Soon these three will be receiving benefits from the Widows Ammunition Fund. In name at least. |
In July 2002, a local social study found that the number of unmarried women in Saudi Arabia was expected to jump to four million in 2007, compared to 1.5 million in 2002. Large dowries demanded by fathers are believed to be a major cause for the increasing number of unmarried women in the Gulf state, where Saudi nationals account for some 17 million out of a total population of around 22 million. |