"Fatherhood" drives MP to “claim” his daughter's right in defiance of religious court rulings

In its issue of today, Al Akhbar newspaper spotlighted the case of Ghadir, the daughter of Hizbullah MP, Nawaf Musawi, who posted a video she filmed of her ex-husband chasing her and her sister and children in her car and blocking their way before he was detained by a Damur police station patrol. The standoff, apparently linked to child visitation rights and custody, soon dominated the local social media, especially after news of the lawmaker attempting to storm the police station but which he later denied. In its analysis, Al Akhbar daily described the row as being of ‘paternal’ paternal nature namely a father defending his daughter’s rights in defiance of the rulings of sharia and religious courts which have abstained from acting on reforms that spare women and mothers the consequences resulting from archaic and unfair verdicts. Al Akhbar went on to say, that the incident clearly denotes the wide outreach of religious authorities which, it stressed, would not have grown without the legislative authority’s full compliance, always in anticipation of sectarian gains and to immunize itself against the ‘beast’ the civil state denotes. In a civil state, the newspaper wrote, there is no room for a “daughter” who takes refuge in her “father”. A civil state acknowledges women who are protected under a unified fair and unprejudiced civil status law that protects them against all manipulation, humiliation and attempts on their life. Eventually, Lebanese women shall remain vulnerable to violence should personal status preferential jurisdictions remain untouched. (Al Akhbar, July 15 2019)
 

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