Saudi man divorces wife for having cigarette in her bag

Marriage goes up in smoke! A Saudi man divorced his wife just three months after marriage when he found a cigarette in her bag.

The husband became furious after he discovered the cigarette and decided to divorce her despite her claims that she did not smoke and that the cigarette did not belong to her, The Gulf News reported.

The man from the southern Saudi city of Jizan has insisted on the divorce and attempts to have him change his mind over the issue and to accept reconciliation have so far failed as he argued that he was certain that the cigarette belonged to his wife, the paper reported. Relatives from both sides intervened to amend the situation, but the stubborn husband insisted on getting divorce.

The wife has suffered from a nervous breakdown, sources said. According to official figures, around 600,000 women smoke cigarettes in Saudi Arabia, making up one tenth of the total smoking population estimated at six million smokers.

The figure includes a significant proportion of expatriates and around 800,000 teenagers, mainly intermediate and high school students, the paper said. A Saudi judge last year ruled that women who suffered as a result of their husbands' smoking were allowed to file for divorce.