Saudi appeals court upholds enforced divorce

RIYADH, Jan 28 (Reuters) A Saudi couple have been forced to divorce against their will by a top court because of arcane tribal customs which allowed the woman's family to seek a split, the pair's lawyer said today.

Abdul-Rahman Al-Lahem said the court had upheld a ruling from a lower court and backed the divorce on the basis of the man's family background.

''The appeals court in Riyadh has supported the divorce because of 'inappropriate lineage','' he said in a statement.

The family of the Saudi woman, called Fatima, began legal action in 2005, saying her husband was not of sufficiently prestigious tribal stock to marry her, and had lied about his tribal background.

The woman and her two children were imprisoned for refusing to return to her family's custody after the lower court first annulled the marriage. Custom in the conservative kingdom requires women to live with their families until marriage.

Saudi Arabia rules by an austere school of Islamic law often termed Wahhabism, and judges in family courts are themselves Wahhabi religious scholars.

Lahem said the ruling contradicted the principles of sharia, Islamic law, which objects to discrimination in terms of colour, nationality and race.

The issue was dramatised in a popular comedy show aired in October that ridiculed the idea of tribal superiority, which is still strong in parts of the country.

REUTERS RL BD1726