KUWAIT, (Reuters) – Kuwait, where women fought for  years for voting rights, has said married women can obtain  passports without the approval of their husbands, a newspaper  reported yesterday.  

The constitutional court in the Gulf Arab state ruled a 1962  law requiring the need for spousal consent was unconstitutional  and a violation of rights, the daily al-Qabas said, publishing  the verdict.  

Rulings of the constitutional court, the country’s highest  court, are final and cannot be appealed.  

Kuwait has the most open political system in the  conservative Gulf Arab region, but women only won the right to  vote in 2005. Four won parliamentary seats in elections this  year.  

Rights groups welcomed the decision. “This is a move that  pleases everyone and not just Kuwaiti women, because I think it  is democracy that won this time,” said Lulwa al-Mulla of the  Women Social Cultural Society.  

“This law was behind many humanitarian problems, because a  lot of men just wanted to hurt their wives, especially after  separation,” said Ali al-Baghli, a former oil minister.