Court rejects man’s plea to impose travel ban on ex-wife

The First Minor Sharia Court yesterday rejected a lawsuit filed by a Bahrain man against the mother of his children, demanding the court to prevent her from travelling outside the Kingdom with their kids. The man claimed that his demand comes as he fears that his ex-wife, an Arab national, would escape the country with his kids and that he would never see them again.

But, the court rejected the lawsuit considering that the right to mobility and travelling is a personal right guaranteed by the law and the constitution. According to the defence attorney Ebtissam Al Sabbagh, the plaintiff demanded the court to prevent her client from travelling abroad with their two daughters (two and five-year-old), alleging that she would take both kids, who are Bahraini nationals, and never return to Bahrain.

Ms Al Sabbagh said the court’s decision came as stipulated in Article 178 of the Code of Civil and Commercial Procedure. The article stipulates that the plaintiff may obtain a court order forbidding the defendant from travelling if the following conditions are met. These conditions include “if there is serious reason to believe the defendant intends to abscond from justice in the near future or if the request is supported by a written document establishing the existence or likelihood of an outstanding debt”.