Husbands can beat wives - but not break bones

A husband can beat his wife to discipline her, provided the beatings are not so severe that they damage her bones or deform her body, an appeals court in Dubai has ruled.

But the Dubai Court of Cassation, the highest court in the emirate, also ruled that a wife has the right to demand a divorce if her husband ‘‘injures her, either by word or action,’’ the Gulf News reported.

The court’s decision came in a case where a woman had petitioned for a divorce on grounds that her husband beat her with an electric cable or a stick, and slammed her head against the wall, the English-language daily paper said.

The court ordered the husband to pay 5,000 dirhams (about £1,000) claimed by the wife as the remainder of her dowry, as well as a monthly alimony of about €650. It also granted her custody of the couple’s two children.

The newspaper did not identify the couple.

Dubai is the most liberal of the seven emirates that make up the United Arab Emirates.