CAIRO: A lawsuit filed by controversial feminist Nawal El-Saadawi to attain legal guardian of her husband, Sherif Hatata, following an alleged affair he had, is the reason for the famed couple’s divorce, Saadawi’s lawyer Mohamed El-Samadoni said.
In a statement released Thursday, El- Samadoni said that Hatata “was seduced by a woman, 50 years younger than him. This caused damage to himself, his family, his wealth and his family’s wealth."
El-Saadawi, 80, and Hatata, 87, are both doctors, activists and authors. Both were members of the Commission of Inquiry for the International War Crimes Tribunal, which investigated war crimes committed in Iraq.
They had been married for 46 years and have fought many political and cultural battles together throughout their marriage, but El-Saadawi was always the more controversial of the two, known mainly for her diehard fight against the taboo subject of female genital mutilation in Egypt.
Their liberal ideas clashed with religious fundamentalists, who filed a lawsuit in an attempt to separate them on the grounds that El-Saadawi is an apostate and therefore cannot remain married to a Muslim.
But the case was dismissed by the court, as well as a case asking to strip her of the Egyptian citizenship.
“All those who defend women’s rights are either divorced or aren’t married in the first place," El-Saadawi told Daily News Egypt on Thursday.
"A woman who defends her pride and freedom refuses to remain in a state that violates her principles.
"I’ve already divorced two husbands before and when the third violated my rights, I divorced him as well and refused to live with him. There are women who accept that, but what would force me to stay with someone who violates my rights," she said.
Hatata refused to disclose any details about the reasons behind the divorce and stated that it was a personal matter.
El-Samadoni stressed in the statement that the divorce will not take effect until after the e’ddah (gap period in Islam, where divorced women must wait three months before they can remarry).
El-Samadoni added that the two are still legally married and alleged that the reason why Hatata announced their divorce in a press release is to slander El-Saadawi.
El-Samadoni also mentioned that El-Saadawi had filed a number of lawsuits against Hatata.
El-Saadawi didn’t disclose any details about these lawsuits because she believed in the sanctity of her private life and that public opinion should not be concerned with personal and domestic disputes, according to El-Samadoni.
"I’m a fighter until the last breath, a fighter for women’s rights and I will not live with a husband who violates my rights," El-Saadawi said.
"I live what I write and I write what I live."
