CAIRO (Reuters)
An Egyptian court on Saturday upheld a lower court ruling obliging Egypt's Coptic Christian church to acknowledge an Egyptian man's right to remarry after a civil court granted him a divorce, judicial sources said.
Egypt's Supreme Administrative Court rejected an appeal by the church against the earlier ruling in favor of Atef Kirolous, who sued the church when it refused to allow him to remarry.
The Coptic Orthodox church, to which up to 10 percent of Egyptians belong, annuls marriages between Christians only in cases of adultery or if the marriage is invalid in some way.
Christians can get divorces under civil law, although the church will not recognize such divorces and refuses to endorse their remarriage.
The lower court ruled in March 2006 against Coptic religious leader Pope Shenouda, saying the right to marry was enshrined in Egyptian law and the church should let Kirolous remarry.
Saturday's court ruling cannot be appealed.
Egyptian law is largely secular and modeled on the French legal system, but personal status issues such as marriage and divorce are generally governed by the religious laws of the relevant community.
Hossam Bahgat of the Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights welcomed the ruling as being "a clear affirmation of the right to privacy and family life".
However, Bahgat added: "We believe the ruling reveals the serious need for introducing a civil family law system to benefit all Egyptians who wish to marry outside mosques and churches."
Bahgat said that while thousands of Egyptian Coptic Christians were suffering from the church's stance on divorce, it was unclear how the court ruling would be implemented.
In February, the Supreme Administrative Court ruled the state must recognize the right of Christians who convert to Islam to change their minds and revert to Christianity.
Some Egyptian Christians convert to Islam to obtain a divorce, to get married, or to get a second marriage. |
