The man accused his wife of deceiving him into believing she had never been married before – and therefore a virgin – and of having surgery to fake her virginity, during a bitter divorce battle which went to the court of appeal in Abu Dhabi.
The court upheld a previous ruling that found she had deceived her husband and increased the compensation she must now pay for the emotional damage she caused him.
Accused: An Egyptian bride has been ordered to pay more than $8 000 compensation to her husband after he accused her of lying about being a virgin before they married
The money is also meant to help him overcome the stigma of what is considered in some parts of Arab society to be an embarrassing ordeal for him and his family.
The case centred around the original marriage contract made by the couple where the Egyptian bride, the court heard, allegedly faked a number of key points about her background.
The court established the woman had been married earlier and had divorced her first husband. It also acknowledged that she had made false statements “with the help of her father, in the couple’s marriage contract – stating that she had never been married or had sex,” according to press reports.
The demise of the couple’s marriage came about following a spiteful sms message sent to the current husband, the court heard.
Court records show that after three years of marriage, and the birth of a child, her current husband received an anonymous text message informing him that his wife had been married in the past.
Tradition: Divorce is still frowned upon by some parts of Arab society and is seen as an embarrassment for those involved and their families
The text message was later followed up by a copy of the woman’s divorce document which was also sent to the husband as proof, prompting the man to file for divorce against his Egyptian wife for lying to him.
He claimed compensation from her for the emotional damage he suffered, claiming that he was “suffering from depression and had lost trust in the people around him as a result of her deception.”
The husband also accused his wife of undergoing surgery to make it seem as though she was a virgin – a simple operation which is becoming increasingly common in some Arab countries.
This is far from the first bizarre divorce case in the United Arab Emirates. In July of last year a Dubai court reportedly awarded an Emirati woman about $24 400 in a shocking divorce settlement, after she claimed her husband was “obsessed” with internet pornography.
It was also heard in court that their wedding was doomed from the beginning when the bridegroom allegedly admitted on their honeymoon to having sexually transmitted diseases which were currently being medically treated.
