In its issue of today, Al Akhbar newspaper brought up the issue of custody and divorce in Jaafari courts, mentioning a seminar held Saturday in Tyre on the subject. The head of the Jaafari Courts in Lebanon, Sheikh Mohamad Kanaan, referred to a number of ‘reforms’ that will see light in the next two weeks, and are related to divorce and custody rulings that often are unfair to women, as he said. Al Akhbar wrote, that this ‘reform initiative’ remains an ‘idea’ far from being implemented in the near future, knowing that it has not reached the Supreme Islamic Shiite Council yet. According to Al Akhbar, Sheikh Kanaan spoke about a book of terms that will be adopted to inform the spouses when they register their marriage contract in court. Among the conditions listed, is granting the wife the option to divorce if the husband refrained from remitting or if he imprisoned her for more than a year, was away for more than two years or ill-treated her. She will have the right to have custody over her children until the age of puberty or the legal age. The above initiative, Al Akhbar went on to say, proposed setting up a committee within six months at the Sharia courts, that will include psychologists, social specialists, educators and doctors, and these will have their semi-mandatory say when considering divorce and child custody cases. In its analysis, Al Akhbar said the book of terms did not stipulate a specific age of custody, but referred sometime to the age of puberty and sometime to the age of seven as the desired age. The newspaper spoke to Jaafar Fadlallah who said that the initiative did not bring any novelty, in the absence of a mandatory nature for the set conditions, reminding that the option of stipulation in contracts exists in the Islamic law. And while he stated a difficulty in implementing the mandate due to its conflict with the two parties who refuse to sign, Fadlallah said it is crucial that the terms included in the initiative be general in order to become socially acceptable later on. For her part, the head of the National Campaign to Raise the Age of Custody within the Shiite Community, Zeina Ibrahim, clarified that the initiative is only a deviation from the basic demand which is to raise the age of custody. Again, the chairperson of the parliamentary committee on women and children, MP Inaya Ezzedine, said reforms require an integrated process of legislation in the parliament with a broader vision when discussing civil laws that guarantee the rights of women. (Al Akhbar, August 1, 201)
