Charbel signs first civil marriage contract in Lebanon

Caretaker Interior and Municipalities Minister Marwan Charbel signed on Thursday the civil marriage contract of Nidal Darwiche and Kholoud Succariyeh and registered it at the records of the directorate general of personal status.                       

Charbel stressed the necessity of bringing such a marriage into effect, after it was previously rejected by the directorate.                     

Religious authorities are split on the issue, officially recognizing 18 different sects in the country.                        

The hardest opposition to civil marriage had come from the country’s Grand Mufti Sheikh Mohammad Rachid Qabbani, with the Sunni preacher issuing an edict, or fatwa, on the matter warning Muslim politicians and ministers not to support introducing civil weddings.          

Nidal and Kholoud had deleted mention of their religious identity from their civil registration document in hopes of making their union official.

President Michel Sleiman had voiced his support for its adoption, saying the Constitution guarantees it as a civil right.                              

Former Prime Minister Saad Hariri also voiced support for civil weddings and criticized the grand mufti over his stances on the subject.