Suha had had enough of her marriage years ago, but she was unable to end it until a temporary law granted unhappily married Jordanian women their freedom.
"I reached a point when I said enough is enough, I cannot live this way any longer. My kids are older and I could not continue in that deadlock anymore," said 45-year-old Suha, who ended her more than 20-year marriage a couple of years ago.
She was one of the first Jordanian women to benefit from "khula", which gives a woman the right to divorce her husband without his consent after returning his dowry and renouncing her rights to the couples' finances.
"I got married when I was 19, it was an arranged marriage. From the very first month my husband laid out his views on marriage and made it quite clear that women were made only to serve men," said Suha, who did not want to give her last name.
"He relished in tormenting and abusing me, not to mention his mistresses, who also received the same treatment," she said. "All I wanted in the end, and after countless years of mistreatment, was my freedom."
Khula is part of a Civil Status Temporary Law, which caused controversy in Jordan when it was issued in late 2001.
Jordan's tribal- and Islamist-dominated parliament rejected the law, but the more liberal senate (upper house) passed it temporarily. In the coming months, parliament must review the law again and if passed, it will become permanent.
Islamist, tribal and independent deputies say the law is contrary to Islamic Sharia law, has made divorce too easy and led to broken homes and moral degeneration.
"I believe that the law in its current status is a disgrace to families, primarily to women," Hayat Mseimi, a deputy for the Islamic Action Front, told Reuters.
Mseimi said divorce should be allowed if husband and wife agree to separate, and if the woman gives an adequate reason for wanting to end her marriage.
Under Khula, a woman just has to state she loathes her husband and feels she can no longer fulfil her "wifely duties".
Some 570 women filed for divorce last year, 125 successfully. Others dropped their cases or are awaiting the outcome. King Abdullah and Queen Rania, who back reforms improving women's rights, supported the Civil Status Law which upholds women's rights and amends some discriminatory articles.
Many Jordanians still feel women should be subordinate to men, but times are changing in the conservative kingdom of five million. Over the past few years, women have been elected to parliament and the cabinet.
Most importantly, many are gaining more financial independence, which has enabled some to give up their financial rights in an unhappy marriage in return for their freedom.
"I helped him a lot with our marriage expenses because my salary was better than his, but I could not continue doing that for ever," said another woman, who divorced her husband following a year and a half of marriage.
"Had it not been for Khula, I would have stayed married to a man who bears no responsibility and who refused to divorce me," she added. She too preferred not to be named.
"It helped me to psychologically move on after feeling that I was not oppressed by laws and courts."
Her point of view was backed by Amman's top civil judge, Wasif Bakri, who said any woman willing to give up her house and financial rights must have a good reason.
"This article addresses the psychological needs of married women. You cannot force a woman who hates her husband for any reason to stay married to him," Bakri said.
Bakri affirmed that Khula is based on Islamic Sharia law, because the civil status law is derived from it.
Many expect parliament to insist on some changes to the Civil Status Law in order to pass it. Bakri said some technical changes would do no harm as long as women retained their rights.
Deputies believe Khula will remain active for several more months anyway, because a stack of temporary laws awaits review.
"We need to put ourselves in their shoes. They are weighing up their freedom against their homes, it's like being stuck between a rock and a hard place," said a women's rights activist who preferred not to be named.
Wearing an elegant suit and a diamond wedding ring, Suha, a mother of two, said she was happy in her second marriage.
"We are a real family now. We all feel the difference in his smallest gestures. When we go out for a meal he consults everyone before ordering off the menu. He's not a man who forces us to eat whatever he orders."
Suha says she had to give herself the chance to find "the right man".
"I imagined I would stay married until every hair on my head turned grey, but it turned out to be a mistake and I was bound to rectify it," she said.
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