Outcry after French Court Annuls Marriage Because Bride Not a Virgin

    A ruling ending a Muslim couple’s union has stunned many in France and for some has raised new concerns about the country’s secular values. In its ruling in April the court concluded that the woman had misrepresented herself and that, in this particular marriage, virginity was a prerequisite. France’s Justice Minister Rachida Dati has since formally requested the public prosecutor’s office to appeal the Lille court ruling which annulled the 2006 union of two Muslims because the wife admitted to having lied about being a virgin. Many have denounced the court’s ruling as an affront to the legal equality of mean and women and as a violation of the woman’s privacy. Prime Minister Fran_ois Fillion stated that while he understood the reason for the judge’s ruling the case merited an appeal. Fadela Amara, minister in charge of the country’s suburbs and herself Muslim has called the ruling, a fatwa against the emancipation of women. Dati who herself had a marriage annulled in France that had been arranged by her family has, as of June 6, received a petition from 150 European deputies denouncing the dangerous precedent of the decision. Both the woman and the man in question are opposed to an appeal.

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