A lawyer is seeking court permission to allow his client, who faces a divorce case lodged by his wife, to communicate with his children via Skype in a first-of-its-kind landmark case in the UAE.
The Asian man’s lawyer, Mukhtar Mohammad Al Gareeb, lodged a counter-lawsuit before the Dubai Sharia Court in which he is requesting permission to allow the father to Skype with his children on a daily basis from 7pm to 8pm.
“The UAE government has converged into a full-fledged smart government. So why not utilize the smart government services and help my client communicate and interact with his children via Skype or any other social media application?
"Usually the court grants the mother the custody of children, who are the same age of that of my client’s children [4 and 10]. Hence we have lodged this unprecedented lawsuit as a precautionary step in case my client does not win the custody battle against the mother,” advocate Al Gareeb told Gulf News.
The Asian couple were married in their country in 2003 and are parents of two children aged four and 10.
The couple lived together for a few years before the woman lodged a divorce case against her husband following several disputes and disagreements.
In her lawsuit, the woman sought the children’s custody and demanded the man pay her a monthly maintenance.
Advocate Al Gareeb lodged a counter lawsuit in which he mentioned that all good efforts to resolve the dispute between the couple were in vain.
“My client, at first, requested the woman [who remains his wife pending the court decision] to return to her marriage house. She refused to carry out her marital obligations and commitments as a wife.
"He tried to save the marriage for the sake of the family’s unity and the children … but she turned down all his efforts. Since she did so, she does not deserve any maintenance. Since she was a disobedient wife, we ask the court not to grant her the children’s custody,” the lawyer said in his counter-lawsuit.
Al Gareeb told the court: “My client deserves the custody of the children more than their mother does. In case the court grants the children’s custody to their mother, then my client wants the court to prevent the mother from behaving in a way that would distort his image before his children.
"The father also wants to be granted permission to visit his children during school days from 4pm till 8pm and over weekends from Friday 10am till Saturday 8pm. In case the mother wins the children’s custody, my client also wants permission to see his children during the summer and the spring vacations over the weekends. He also wants to see them on the first two days of each Eid. He also wants to communicate with them on Skype daily from 7pm to 8pm before they go to sleep.”
- By Bassam Za’za’, Legal and Court Correspondent
