Forced Marriage is Bad Enough, But Forced Divorce?

The Independent reports that some Saudi couples are now finding themselves divorced against their will. Those who refuse risk being thrown into prison:

"Fatima al-Timani is facing the end of her sixth month in prison in the Saudi town of Damman. Her only crime is to refuse to be separated from the man to whom she had been happily married for the past four years and with whom she has two children.

"Fatima is the latest victim of a growing practice in the oil-rich Saudi kingdom of forced divorce, when disgruntled relatives have used hardline Islamic courts to dissolve matches against the will of the married couple.

"The plight of 34-year-old Fatima, who was pregnant when court proceedings began in 2005 and is now in prison with her one-year-old son, Suleiman, has drawn widespread public sympathy in the tightly controlled kingdom.

"Fatima is forbidden from seeing her husband, Mansour al-Timani. He now looks after their two-year old-son Noha, who has only been allowed occasional visits to his mother. Fatima's relatives have accused Mansour of lying about his tribal background to win their father's approval for the marriage and want it annulled so she can have an arranged marriage to a spouse of their choosing.

"Saudi Arabia has possibly the worst record on women's rights of any country. The kingdom has been ruled since the 1920s by the House of Saud whose clerical allies, the Wahhabists, have imposed an austere state faith on what had been a religiously diverse mixture of Muslims with Sunni, Shia and Sufi communities.

"Under Wahhabi rule, women have no voting rights, almost no employment rights and are barred from even driving.

"Despite a concerted effort to present a more reformist image to the outside world since the death of King Fahd in August 2005, rights groups have noted continuing erosions of human rights under his successor Abdullah."

So, to recap - Most of the 9/11 hijackers were Saudi, Saudis have been the prime sponsor of al-Qaeda, Saudi money is now being funneled to the Sunni insurgency in Iraq, the Saudis are brutally repressive to women and yet neither Shrub nor Harpo have a harsh word to say about them. Huh?