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Saudi Lawyer Takes On Religious Court System
In his Riyadh office, human rights lawyer Abdul-Rahman al-Lahem, right, talks to a man whose mother and sister are suing the country's religious police. "If we win this case," he said, "it will prove that nobody is above the rule of law."
(By Faiza Saleh Ambah -- The Washington Post)
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Lahem's involvement in any case has come to mean trouble, or at least intense scrutiny, for judges across the kingdom.
He took the case of a high school chemistry teacher, Mohammad al-Harbi, who was sentenced last year to 40 months in prison and 750 lashes for "trying to sow doubt" among his students by speaking positively about Judaism and Christianity. King Abdullah bin Abdul Aziz pardoned him.
Another client, Rabbah al-Quwai'i, a journalist, was arrested this year for "harboring destructive thoughts" and accused of promoting homosexuality by commenting on Internet forums that it was a genetic predisposition. The case was thrown out of court.
Two factors have worked in Lahem's favor: a reform-minded king and, since Abdullah took control of the country several years ago, a freer press that has helped publicize the lawyer's cases. But Lahem is still up against a deeply traditional justice system and widespread public ignorance about human rights and the rule of law.
Civil rights groups and independent human rights organizations are banned here, and the first of two government-appointed human rights committees was set up only in 2004. Previously, disputes and grievances were addressed by provincial governors at weekly salons or settled out of court by mediators. The governors, mainly princes from the ruling al-Saud family, sometimes set up committees to look into complaints.
Despite laws in place since 2002 protecting suspects' rights to legal counsel and requiring public trials, most trials are held in secret, without defense lawyers.
Defendants often ask Lahem to help after they have gone to court without an attorney and verdicts have been pronounced.
He is currently representing Mansour al-Timani and his wife, Fatima, a couple with two children who suddenly found themselves forcibly divorced. The 34-year-old wife's half brothers sued to void the marriage, claiming that the husband had hidden his inferior tribal lineage. The judge ruled in their favor.
Women in Saudi Arabia are not allowed self-guardianship and need the approval of a close male relative to travel or marry.
After the marriage was declared void, the couple's cohabitation became illegal, and police took Fatima from their home. She was given the choice of living with her brothers, moving to a women's shelter or going to prison. She told Lahem she did not feel she would be out of her brothers' reach in a shelter and has been in prison with her year-old son since July.
Lahem walks a fine line between two often contradictory ideals -- Islamic law and international covenants. He said he was keenly aware that to make any headway, he must use the system, not fight outside it. Although he's a staunch feminist, he said, he chose not to tackle the issue of women's right to self-guardianship, not only because it is illegal here, but also because it is widely accepted.
In dozens of television and newspaper interviews and talks across the country, Lahem has emphasized that the verdict against Fatima al-Timani is racist and discriminatory and therefore contrary to Islam's egalitarian principles. It is also illegal, he said, because the kingdom has signed international treaties against racial discrimination.
