Minister of Justice tackles civil marriage issue with Higher Committee, Interior Minister

Minister of Justice Shakib Qortbawi, Minister of Interior Marwan Charbel and the Higher Committee for Consultations tackled Friday the controversial issue of civil marriage in Lebanon and discussed means of its registration.           

The officials discussed the legality of the Higher Committee's decision issued earlier this month to consider legal all civil marriages conducted in Lebanon by people who have deleted mention of their religious affiliation on their identification papers.          

According to the Committee, notaries have the authority to oversee civil marriage contracts, and couples have the freedom to designate a civil law.           

Activists in support of legalizing civil marriage in Lebanon have been calling for demonstrations over the controversial subject in light of Nidal Darwiche and Kholoud Succariyeh’s civil union a month back.          

Nidal and Kholoud, a couple who had wed via a specially drafted civil union, had deleted mention of their religious identity from their civil registration document in hopes of making their union official awaiting the Interior Ministry’s formal recognition of their marriage document.          

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

The hardest opposition to civil marriage has 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.