ABU DHABI // A man charged with raping his former wife insisted he was innocent because, as it was his wife who had requested the divorce, they were still legally married, a criminal court heard yesterday.
When AJ denied the charges of raping the woman, Chief Justice Sayed Abdul Baseer, head of the Criminal Court of First Instance, confronted him with his confessions to public prosecution and police.
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"Mawawil," AJ, an Emirati, responded twice, meaning that it was "just talk".
"She is my wife and the mother of my five children," he added.
The judge argued that their divorce was final, so she was not his wife when the rape occurred.
"In Sharia shouldn't there be four witnesses to prove the charge of sex outside of wedlock?" AJ replied.
Then Chief Justice Abdul Baseer asked him to give the reason for his denial.
"Doesn't sex outside of wedlock have certain rules? She is my wife and mother of five children," AJ said. He added that she had divorced him, and because it was not his decision the divorce did not count.
"Since you are talking in terms of Sharia let me explain Sharia to you," the judge responded. "A final divorce means that the woman should marry another man and he sleeps with her and she sleeps with him. And then if they disagree and get a divorce, the ex-husband can marry her again."
The verdict will be announced on August 21.
