Sit-in by the Gathering for the Protection of Lebanese Women to demand the uplifting of the age of child custody in Shiite confessional laws

Following the statement of last week issued by the national campaign undertaken by the Gathering for the Protection of Lebanese Women to raise the age of custody of children to the children for the Shiite confessional group, (please refer to the news at the portal, “Judge Sharara to the national campaign for increasing children’s custody age: the campaign is a waste of time!?” dated 30/9/2013), the campaign organized last Saturday a sit-in in front of the headquarters of  Shiite Higher Council, located in Haret Hreik in which a group of women activist participated in order to reiterate their demand for raising the age of child custody.
Women activists received after the sit-in a communication from the bureau of the Shiite Higher Council Sheikh Abdel Amir Qabalan, expressing his readiness to meet and dialogue with the campaign sometime during the current week. One of the women activists, Zeina Ibrahim, reiterated the demand of the group for uplifting the age of custody to 12 years for both boys and girls, in harmony with a similar decision taken earlier by Sunni courts, and in accordance with the Islamic Sharia. She went on to say that the next move by the Gathering will depend on the outcome of the meeting with the Sheikh Qabalan.
Source: Al-Safir, 7 October 2013