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Saudi groom divorces bride two hours after wedding for posting pictures on Snapchat

Couple had a strict prenup forbidding posting the wedding photographs on social media, bride's brother says

Caroline Mortimer
Wednesday 26 October 2016 01:10 BST
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The couple had been married two hours before the husband asked for a divorce
The couple had been married two hours before the husband asked for a divorce (Getty Images/iStockphoto)

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A Saudi Arabian man has asked for a divorce from his new bride just two hours after the wedding after it emerged she had posted pictures of it on social media.

The unnamed groom broke up with his wife after learning she had sent pictures of the wedding to her friends on Snapchat in violation of a strict clause in their prenup which forbade sharing the images on social media.

The bride’s brother told Saudi newspaper Okaz: “There was a prenuptial agreement she would not use social-media applications such as Snapchat, Instagram or Twitter to post or send her pictures which she did sign.

“It was included in the marriage contract and became binding. Unfortunately, my sister did not honour the pledge and used Snapchat to share pictures from the wedding ceremony with her female friend”.

The bride’s family reportedly argued that the husband was being too harsh but his family said he was entitled to call for a divorce.

Under Saudi law, men have the unilateral power to divorce their wives without any legal grounds – effectively immediately.

Women on the other hand need the consent of their husbands or the judiciary before dissolving a marriage and lose custody of their children if they are over a certain age.

The divorce rate in Saudi Arabia is high with over 50 per cent of marriages falling apart.

Around half of these divorces occurred among newlyweds, according to one Saudi legal expert.

Ahmad Al Maabi told the Daily Mail: “Misunderstandings, differences in views and the easy approach to marriage without a deep appreciation of the responsibilities are among the major causes for divorce among young people.

“Marriages are bound to fail when there are no robust foundations or trust.”

Unrelated men and women are keep apart under the strict morality rules of the Wahabist theocracy so couples rarely get to know each other – or sometimes even meet – before marriage.

There have been numerous reports in the past of a man divorcing his new wife in front of the wedding photographer after she removed her veil for the first time and another who divorced his wife of two years after she failed to respond to his WhatsApp message.

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