An appeals court decision less than two weeks ago in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, threatens to be a major setback in the progress made toward eliminating gender and customs bias against women in Arab and Muslim societies.

The recent decision has strengthened a July 20, 2005 lower court verdict to forcefully divorce Fatima and Mansour Al-Timani on the basis of his alleged lower social status.

The only remaining hope that things could be different for this couple, would be if King Abdullah bin Abdul Aziz, after reviewing the case, forwarded it to the Kingdom's High Court.

If the case is allowed to go before the High Court, King Abdullah has an opportunity to reinforce his established trend of reform to ensure that women's rights in marriage and divorce, as well as various other aspects of daily life, are dealt with in accordance to the Shariah (Islamic law).

Leading the charge in providing media coverage in her capacity as correspondent for The Saudi Gazette, Suzan Zawawi reported Sunday that the couple's lawyer, Abdul Rahman Al-Lahem, who appealed the lower court decision on October 7, 2006, affirmed that, 'The High Court is the only legal establishment that can overrule the appeals court if it finds the ruling contrary to the Shariah.'

The original legal action, filed by Fatima's half-brothers after the death of her father, claimed that Al-Timani misrepresented his tribal affiliation (or social status) when he sought permission to marry Fatima. Al-Timani denied the charge, and in the single court appearance Fatima was made aware of, she adamantly declared to Justice Ibrahim Al-Farraj, that she did not wish to be divorced from her husband.

Fatima's brothers began the legal action last year saying Timani was not of good enough tribal stock to marry their sister and had misled them when the couple first married. 'Judges agreed with them,' Lahem was quoted by Reuters.

Lahem declined to say what tribe Fatima was from, but he said her family's origins were in the conservative Najd area north of Riyadh, the country's tribal heartland.

'In Islam there is not meant to be any discrimination in terms of colour, nationality or race. But the tribal element is still strong in Saudi Arabia,' Lahem said.

He added, 'It's well known here that there are two types of people – 'qabili' who are from known tribes and 'khadiri' who are not.'

Following up the July 2005 lower court decision, Fatima, a young mother of two, was arrested and imprisoned for refusing to return to the family home under the guardianship of her half-brothers. Seven months later, she endured the heart-break of being separated from her first-born child and husband because the judicial system did not uphold Fatima's right to choose her own life partner.

Although currently free to leave the prison, Fatima is fearful that her step-brothers will arrange for her to be remarried before King Abdullah makes a final decision to grant a reprieve in her case.

Fatima told The Arab News in November, 'I'm leaving this place on one condition only: that I go back to my husband.'

'Fatimah's and numerous other cases are basically rooted in the right of the guardian to control life, marriage, and in our cases, education and travel,' stated renowned Saudi poet and activist, Nimah Ismail Nawwab.

Nawwab further asserted that women all over the world are being harmed because of it [guardianship] and local, legal decisions are being picked up by others and cited as precedents, creating a domino effect that is widespread and tragically timeless.'

'We are simply embracing the ruling of traditions and customs over that of religion,' stated Maysoon Dakhiel, associate professor of Education and Psychology at the Girls College in Jeddah.

Saudi women throughout the Kingdom launched a petition this week for presentation to King Abdullah on behalf of Fatima and Mansour Al-Timani. The petition urges that the Al-Timani case to be forwarded to the High Court. It also calls for the reversal of the appellate court's ruling so that Fatima and her husband can be reunited.

Earlier reports indicate that there are already approximately 19 known forced divorce or annulment cases in judiciary process. Therefore, additional measures are needed in the petition that would effectuate guidelines to ensure rejection of future, frivolous and non-Shariah compliant divorce cases brought by parties other than the husband and wife. The petition also calls for re-evaluation of the laws pertaining to guardianship of competent, adult women.

'Networking among Muslim women all over the world has become a necessity and a survival strategy,' stated Fatin Yousef Bundagji, Director of Women Empowerment and Research at the Jeddah Chamber of Commerce and Industry.

Bundagji added, 'You need never forget that a younger female generation is patiently waiting for you to secure its future.'

A more recent gesture of King Abdullah's commitment to supporting women's issues materialised as the result of a collaborative effort supported by Washington, DC-based Muslimah Writers Alliance (MWA) through an online petition drive in September 2006.

The petition was launched in protest of a proposal outlined in a report compiled by a committee of scholars at the request of King Abdullah. The proposal, set forth as a plan to eliminate the prayer area for women within the mataaf (circumambulation area around the Holy Kaaba), was met with a chorus of global outrage.

Within days the 'MWA Grand Mosque Equal Access for Women Petition' collected nearly 2,000 signatures.

By the petition's eleventh day deputy head of Grand Mosque affairs, Mohammed bin Nasser al-Khozayem, announced to the press that, the presidency (committee) decided to adopt a second proposal, which is to expand two special places for women's prayer, in addition to the one that already exists.

Margot Badran, author and a senior fellow at the Prince Alwaleed Bin Talal Center for Muslim-Christian Understanding at Georgetown University in Washington, D.C., called the collaborative effort, 'The most striking example to date of Muslim women collaborating in global protest and one that authorities could not ignore.'

For the sake of Fatima, her husband, their children, and the Muslim ummah at large, let us pray that King Abdullah is listening again now.

Unfortunately, the collision of dominos eluded to in the comments of Nawwab have already begun to fall.

The Arab News reported Wednesday that Rania Albou-Enin, a 27-year old successful Saudi physician and her husband, Saud Al-Khaledi, an engineer, are waiting anxiously for their own appellate court decision. Rania's father filed a lawsuit in the Eastern Province city of Alkhobar, requesting the annulment of her marriage. Judge Omar Al-Tuwaijri ruled in favour of the father's petition, as in the case of Fatima and Mansour Al-Timani, on the basis of tribal incompatibility.

Rania and Al-Khaledi have refused to accept the verdict. Alkhobar police have arrested Al-Khaledi and he remains imprisoned as the couple protest the court's ruling dictating that Rania return to her father's guardianship and home.

The couple's first child is due to be delivered shortly, and in fear for her personal safety, Rania is currently in hiding somewhere in the Eastern Province of Saudi Arabia.

(The writer, Aishah Schwartz, is a freelance writer and Director of Muslimah Writers Alliance, Washington, D.C).