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Lebanese women predicaments in Jaafari courts
26-7-2018
In its issue of today, Al Akhbar newspaper drew attention to the fate of women in the Lebanese Jaafari Family courts, pointing to a shortage in the number of sharia judges. The articles spotlights the judges trepeated nonattendance to the court hearing sessions and their general puffed-up attitude towards women whose divorce cases stay unresolved inside courts that are assumedly responsible to find a solution to their grievances. Hence these women, Al Akhbar wrote, are left in limbo between marriage and divorce. On the subject, the head of the Jaafari Court at the Higher Islamic Shiite Council (HISC), Ali Makki, described the status of such courts as “completely spent”, referring to the sluggishness and unjustified procrastination in the issuance of rulings. He said some women litigants wait all their life to get the divorce, demanding urgent and immediate reform of the situation. Until that happens, Makki asked concerned women to request “Isma” (protection) and adjustment of marriage provisions, like for example, to have the right to divorce if she was beaten or affronted by her husband. Moreover, former employees at the Jaafari courts revealed particular interventions, pressures and obstructions to the legal process and verdicts, holding the State and the presidency of said courts responsible for relinquishing their role in monitoring the performance of involved judges. To this effect, AL Akhbar wrote that, in order to dodge delay and procrastination, many Shiite women resort to alternative dispute resolution such as the so termed ‘sharia arbitrator divorce’, which is issued without the consent of the husband for reasons related to his conduct. Whereas other women employ the office of ‘sharia cases’ to conclude the sharia arbitrator divorce which requires ‘ijtihad’ or jurisdiction. Al Akhbar said it is not easy to get such a divorce due to the shortage in the number of arbitrators, the rivalry between clerics and the rejection of jaafari courts to establish it on the pretext that it has overridden the court. (AL Akhbar, July 26, 2018)
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- العربية
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