A rally took place in Downtown Beirut Tuesday demanding Lebanese women be granted the right to pass their nationality to their husbands and children. A sit-in of about 80 people took place in Riad Solh Square to protest the current Lebanese nationality law.
The current committee has repeatedly stated that it is working toward promulgating a law that would allow Lebanese women to pass on their nationality to their children, so long as their husbands are not Palestinian. The campaigners took issue with such a tack and called on the committee to reconsider the principles of the law, asking that Lebanese women be allowed to pass on their nationality not only to their children but to their husbands as well, with “no exceptions.”
Khaldoun Sharif, an adviser to Prime Minister Najib Mikati, said that the current situation is “unbelievable and unacceptable” but spoke of support for change among certain politicians, including the prime minister. “[Mikati] supports [the campaign] 100 percent. This campaign is right,” he insisted. (Daily Star)