A married couple this morning filed a Constitutional appeal from a judgment which had ordered the woman to leave the country and requested the retraction of her freedom of movement.

Saaidia Chabab, a Moroccan, married Mario Farrugia in May 2002 and in March 2008, she was given a residential permit valid until March 2012.

In January 2009, the police carried an inspection to see if the woman was actually living with her husband and found that she had left the house three weeks earlier.

She was actually living with her sister, who also lived Milouda Mangion, who also lived in Malta.

The police informed the Expatriates and Citizenship Department and an order was issued for her freedom of movement to be cancelled. The couple, however, got back together.

In March 2010, another inspection was carried out and this time, Ms Chabab had been not living at the matrimonial home for three months.

In July, Mr Farrugia informed the director of the Expatriates and Citizenship Department that he and his wife were not living together anymore. Another order was issued for her freedom of movement to be retracted and she was ordered to leave the country.

But the couple moved back together and filed a constitutional case claiming breach of fundamental human rights and asking for the removal order to be retracted.

Mr Justice Gino Camilleri had then ruled that from the evidence produced in court, the marriage could easily be called one of convenience and it was evident that the woman preferred to live with her sister rather than in the matrimonial home.

The couple today filed a constitutional appeal from that judgment arguing that just because the wife left home for a period of time did not mean that the marriage had completely broken down.

This whole incident had been created because her husband had got a dog which she did not want and so moved out. The dog was subsequently removed and she moved back in.

The couple are claiming that their human rights would be impinged if Ms Chabab was deported because this went against her human right to a family. She would also suffer psychological trauma because she would be forced to leave a country she had called home for the past 11 years.

Lawyers Yanika Bugeja, Annalisa Debono and Joseph Gatt appeared for the couple.