United Arab Emirates names first female judge

The Emirati president has appointed the first female judge in this conservative Muslim country.

The appointment makes the United Arab Emirates only the second Persian Gulf nation — after Bahrain — with a woman in a high-profile judiciary position.

Kholoud Ahmed Juwan al-Dhahiri will serve as a primary judge for Abu Dhabi's Judiciary Department, the official news agency WAM reported Wednesday.

Al-Dhahiri told the news agency she hoped to be a role model for Emirati women by performing well in her position in the Emirates' justice system, which is based on Islamic law and tribal rules.

A primary judge handles civil and criminal cases, and al-Dhahiri could judge both in Abu Dhabi —one of seven emirates, or states, making up the UAE — and at the federal level. The news agency did not specify when she would take office.

WAM said the decree by President Sheik Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan proves the oil-rich Gulf city-state's "commitment to engage women in the Emirate's development."

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There are four female Cabinet Ministers in the UAE, and eight women have been named to the 40-seat advisory council, a panel that is the closest body the country has to a parliament.

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Al-Dhahiri has been an Abu Dhabi-based lawyer for eight years, arguing criminal and civil cases in Islamic and civil courts, WAM said.

The appointment comes after the Emirates' Justice Ministry amended a law earlier this year to allow women to work as judges and prosecutors in federal courts.