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 ?khuloe?, 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.?

Khuloe 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.