A Saudi man has divorced his wife by text message, a newspaper said today.
The man was in Iraq when he sent the SMS informing her she was no longer his spouse.
He followed up with a telephone call to two of his relatives, the daily Arab Newsreported.
A court in the Red Sea city of Jeddah finalised the split, the first known divorce in Saudi Arabia by text message, after summoning the two relatives to check they had received word of the husband's intention, the paper said.
Saudi Arabia practises a strict form of Islamic Sharia law, and clerics preside over Sharia courts as judges. Under the law a man can divorce his wife by saying "I divorce you" three times.
The Saudi man was in Iraq to participate in "what he described as 'jihad'," according to the Arab News.
Reuters
