When a 34-year old wife found herself alone fighting an abusive husband who abandoned his duties toward her and her children and he filed a number of lawsuits against her, she decided to avenge herself by sending him an official disobedience warning.

It is the first marital disobedience warning to be filed by a wife against her husband in Egypt's family court.

In the warning, lawyer Eman Mohsen mentioned the husband is considered disobedient because, “First: he expelled his wife from the marital home. Second: He separated his children, as he took the two sons to live with him and left the two daughters to his wife. Third: he took custody of young children (which is the right of his wife). Fourth: He accused his wife of stealing and defaming her."

“I’ve been working on women’s cases for many years and I’ve been thinking about this warning, because if a man can make a warning of disobedience against his wife, a woman can do this too,” the lawyer of the wife, Eman Mohsen, told Al-Monitor. “When the husband sent an official disobedience warning to his wife, I suggested that she too send him a warning and she liked the idea."