Muslim-Arab women have faced lifelong battles with divorce due to the Islamic "Triple Talaq" practice, in which a woman is granted divorce only if her husband utters the words "I divorce you" three times.
Societal and cultural barriers have made it exceptionally hard for women to initiate divorce, even when proof of domestic abuse is evident.
However, one Emirati woman - who has been in a toxic relationship for three years with a man who refused to divorce her - decided to take the matter into her own hands in the most savage way possible.
The woman took her husband's cell phone while he was sleeping and texted herself a message - which read "I divorce you" - three times.
According to one Muslim scholar, the text message is a valid "Triple Talaq" method.
To unlock his mobile device, the woman "used his fingertip to access his phone," according to Al Arabiya.
She then took the case to court, however, officials at the Dubai Personal Status court demanded she presents the "source of the message," which led to her confessing what she had done out of desperation.
The husband learned what his wife had done, and instead of granting her a divorce, he vowed to make the "divorce process in court as hard and slow as possible."
Whatsapp messages and divorce in UAE
Earlier this month, with regards to laws surrounding divorce via virtual means, Hassan Mohsen Elhais, a legal consultant at Al Rowaad Advocates and Legal Consultants, provided a detailed explanation to The National.
"Written correspondence includes emails, text messages, WhatsApp messages and other commonly used tools of written communication. However, these need to be printed and translated by legal translators prior to being submitted to court. They are then considered as an acceptable form of written correspondence and can be taken into account by the court as evidence," Elhais said.
In most cases, the Family Court in Dubai accepts "all written correspondence between the parties as evidence."
In the case of physical abuse, medical reports or witnesses are needed as evidence, according to Khaleej Times.