Saudi Impersonators Uncovered

What to do when your wife files a lawsuit against you? Well, if you're in Saudi Arabia, hire another woman to impersonate her and drop the case. Easy! In Saudi's most recent act of ridiculousness (though in all fairness, the government isn’t to blame for this one – entirely) the Justice Ministry uncovered ten cases of women impersonating other women in courts over the past year. The noble men of Saudi will basically ask a woman to impersonate their wife or other female family members to show up in court and withdraw certain cases against them. Most of these cases are related to family matters such as divorce, alimony, inheritance and the like. Shocker. Cases raised by the women against their husband are often either entirely withdrawn without the woman's knowledge, prior to any legal proceedings, or they'll use the impersonators to ensure a certain outcome.

But shouldn’t there be preventative measures in place to prevent such occurrences, you ask? Indeed there should – they're on the way apparently. The Justice Ministry is currently in the process of creating a project for fingerprinting women in courts to authenticate their identity, a process they’ve been asked to expedite by lawyers in the Kingdom. Apparently, the fingerprinting system has yet to be implemented due to delays from the National Information Centre that is providing the service.

They say money can't buy everything but clearly it can buy you your desired court verdict – and maybe some jail time if you get caught. If these women are caught, they could be tried for forgery and identity theft.