Civil marriage of Nidal Darwiche and Khouloud Succariyeh registered

The state-run National News Agency reported on Tuesday that Nidal Darwiche and Kholoud Succariyeh's civil marriage contract was registered in Hermel's civil status records.

Darwiche and Succariyeh's union is the first civil marriage to be conducted and registered in Lebanon, pointing out that the Caretaker Interior Minister Marwan Charbel approved the contract on 24/4/2013.

Nidal and Kholoud had deleted mention of their religious identity from their civil registration document, facing staunch religious authorities that remain split on the issue.

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.

Both Sunni and Shiite preachers have taken firm stances against the issue leaving Christian spiritual figures with a far greater willingness to consider civil unions outside religious institutions.

President Michel Sleiman 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.