Saudi court orders man to get passport for daughter

RIYADH: A Saudi court has ruled in favour of a woman who challenged her father’s decision to not let her have a passport, reports said on Thursday, stirring a debate on the contentious male guardianship system.

The conservative kingdom requires women to seek permission from male “guardians” — their fathers, husbands or other male relatives — to travel, get married and do other tasks.

In a rare case, an unnamed 24year-old woman in western Jeddah city sought to disown her father as her guardian after he refused to let her seek a passport to study abroad, local media including the pro-government Okaz newspaper reported.

A civil court this week ordered the father to obtain a passport for the woman.

The newspaper also said the woman, a university student, had been living with her mother for 10 years and had not seen her father for six years.

“If a woman had the right to get her own passport, just like men, we wouldn’t need a court” to rule on the matter, tweeted Latifah Ashaalan, a member of Saudi Arabia’s Shura Council, an advisory body.

The rare court case also prompted a raft of comments on social media.

“I am surprised by the contradictions in the system,” said a Saudi Twitter user.

“In the end, the father was forced to seek the passport against his will. Why not allow women to get passports themselves without losing time and going through all this trouble?”