Manama: Enforcement courts in Saudi Arabia have in the last 10 months ordered 3,652 husbands and fathers to pay alimony to their spouses or former spouses and children.
Failure to comply with the court orders would invite legal measures that include prison terms and fines, Saudi Press Agency (SPA) reported.
Saudi justice minister Walid Al Samaani had equated those failing to pay alimony with assailants who deserved to be punished for mistreating children.
According to the figures released by the justice ministry, the region of Makkah topped the list with 1,379 alimony payments ordered by courts. Riyadh was second with 978 cases, followed by the Eastern Province with 487 cases.
Regulations stipulate that fathers or ex-husbands who abstain from paying alimony for any reason can be jailed for up to seven years, justice undersecretary Hamad Al Khudhairi said.
The same sentence applies to anyone who resists paying the alimony by assaulting the employee tasked with implementing the court verdict or by giving false information to mislead officials overseeing the alimony case, he added.
Anyone caught helping defaulting fathers or former husbands in disrupting the alimony payment process will also be jailed for up to seven years, Al Khudhairi warned.
The alimony cases filed by wives and former wives asking for support for themselves and their children increased last year with 3,287 husbands ordered to pay alimony. One year earlier, the figure stood at 2,105.
