The case involved a woman who filed a personal status claim in Dubai seeking divorce on grounds of harm, alongside financial and custodial claims relating to the couple’s child. She alleged that her husband abandoned her, failed to provide maintenance, and left her to cover household and childcare expenses alone.

Court records show she had previously filed cases in Sudan and Egypt. However, she argued before the Dubai courts that the harm had continued and escalated after those foreign proceedings concluded.

In UAE personal status law, divorce for harm (known as darar in Arabic) is a fault-based divorce mechanism available to Muslim women who were not granted the right to unilateral divorce in their marriage contract.

Under Federal Law No. 28 of 2005, a wife can petition the court for divorce if she can prove that her husband’s conduct has caused harm that makes continuing the marriage impossible. The definition of harm is broad and includes abandonment, failure to provide maintenance, verbal or physical abuse, and other forms of mistreatment.

The husband contested the claim, arguing that the matter had already been decided abroad and should not be relitigated in Dubai.

The Dubai court disagreed. It held that the earlier rulings did not prevent it from hearing the case because the claim was based on renewed and continuing harm, not merely the same facts previously adjudicated.

(Source: Khaleej Times)