A Saudi couple who were forcibly divorced more than four years ago have finally had their marriage reinstated by the Supreme Court, in a decision which is being hailed as a triumphfor individual rights over archaic tribal attitudes.

The family of Fatima ‘Azzaz, now 36, initially gave permission for her to marry Mansour al Timani, now 40, after satisfying themselves about his reputation and his ancestry as a member of the Shammar tribe. But two years later her half-brothers began complaining that he had misled them about his tribal status – meaning that he wasn't sufficiently well-bred to have married her.

The half-brothers then persuaded a court to annul the marriage on the grounds of "tribal incompatibility" and the couple, who have two children, were forced to live apart.

After the Supreme Court overturned the annulment, Fawzia al Ayouni, of the Voice of Women group, told The National: “I consider this decision to be a milestone in Saudi modern history, as it loudly screams that we are all equal sons and daughters of this country, and tribalism should no longer govern our lives.”

The Supreme Court's decision was clearly an important one but I'm not sure it really blows a hole in the guardianship system which allows families to prevent couples from marrying because of "unsuitable" ancestry.

What it does highlight, yet again, is the flaws in Saudi Arabia's justice system and the lack of self-correcting mechanisms when judges make arbitrary decisions. The lower court apparently did not consider the couple's side of the case and it was only referred to the Supreme Court after intervention by the king (probably as a result of media publicity).

What “turned the case around was the fact that we put our hands on new documents refuting the brothers’ case,” Ahmad al-Sudairy, the couple's lawyer, said. “We managed to prove that [Mr al-Timani] was of tribal descent”.

Unless there is some unreported angle in the Supreme Court's ruling, that does not appear to challenge the principle of "tribal compatibility" in marriage but, if anything, reinforces it.

Posted by Brian Whitaker, 31 January 2010.