No witnesses necessary for court divorces

Saudi Gazette report JEDDAH — Minister of Justice Walid Al-Samaani has directed the family affairs courts in the Kingdom to effect divorce and its nullification, which allows a woman to return to her husband, without the need for two male witnesses to identify the husband. The minister said the courts would treat national IDs as sufficient proof of identification of men divorcing their wives or revoking a previous divorce. The decision was aimed at facilitating the work of courts and simplifying procedures, he added. According to the ministry, there were 33,945 divorces in the Kingdom last year against 11,817 marriages.