British courts should be able to issue Islamic divorces via a specialised unit set up to protect the rights of Muslim women, a leading expert in sharia law will advise a House of Commons inquiry.
In recommendations to the home affairs select committee, Elham Manea, associate professor in Middle East studies at Zurich University, will also argue for mandatory civil marriages alongside religious ceremonies, and say imams who violate the rules should be given harsh sanctions.
Manea, who spent four years researching the UK’s sharia councils and recently published a book on her findings, says the measures would render “inherently discriminatory” sharia councils redundant because they are mainly used by women seeking an Islamic divorce.
Under sharia law, men can divorce their wives unilaterally by pronouncing talaq (divorce) three times, but women must get a judicial decree on specific grounds or give up financial rights to obtain a divorce from a religious judge, a process that costs up to £400. [The Guardian] Read more
