Uniform procedures in all Syariah courts must be implemented to overcome delays and injustices suffered by Muslim women in divorce proceedings, a non-governmental organisation proposed today.

Sisters in Islam (SIS) coordinator Sharifah Zuriah Aljeffri said that while various positive steps have been taken by the Syariah Judicial Department to reduce delays, there are still too many shortcomings.

Among them, she said, are gender bias in the attitude of the court, weaknesses in administration and procedure, problems with lawyers and lack of information provided to women on their rights under the Islamic family law.

"While a man faces no obstacles in getting a divorce, the court very often appears reluctant to grant a divorce to a woman without the agreement of her husband, even though the grounds for divorce are clear.

"Difficulties in obtaining a copy of the marriage certificate required by the court before the case could be heard as well as the court's insistence on the husband's presence, and allowing several postponements of cases because of the husband's absence, have also contributed to the delay in proceedings," she said.

Sharifah was speaking at a press conference to highlight the problems faced by Muslim women when applying for divorce in the Syariah court.

Unwarranted advice

She added that the court's insistence on the use of lawyers even though the law allowed women to represent themselves have further aggravated the problem of delays in the hearings.

"Women receive unwarranted advice from their lawyers who tell them to go back to their husbands. Therefore, these women feel as though their own lawyers are on their husbands' side rather than on their side.

"Sometimes these women are also required to attend counselling sessions organised by the Religious Department, which are not mandatory under the law, before their cases are heard in court," said Sharifah.

She proposed that counselling sessions should be voluntary and conducted by qualified and gender-sensitive counsellors.

"Gender sensitisation courses should also be conducted for Syariah judges and court officers. The appointment of Syariah judges must include women as well," she said.

No appeals

She added that in cases of discrepancy over evidence, the wife's solemn oath that the husband had breached any of the conditions in the marriage contract, should be sufficient for the judges to grant the divorce.

Another SIS coordinator, Nik Noriani Nik Badli Shah, said that divorce, once granted by the Syariah court, should not be appealable.

"There is no such thing as suspended divorce in the al-Quran. The divorce which has been granted by the court should not be allowed to have a stay of execution order given because of an objection from the husband.

"While a decision rejecting a divorce application may be appealed against, if a divorce has already been granted, then appealable issues should only relate to the question of ancillary reliefs," she said.