The daily said the woman, who was not identified, gathered family and friends in the city of Medina to celebrate the end of her unhappy marriage - a rare occurrence in the ultra-conservative kingdom which frowns upon divorce. She also invited everyone that was in the park at the time to join in, plying them with food and drink, the paper added. Divorce is legal under Islam but rights activists say many women in Saudi Arabia prefer to stay in unhappy or violent marriages rather than be stigmatised by society or lose custody of their children.

Reuters