Newsday.com - Protesting Iraqi Marriage Vote

Baghdad, Iraq - A decision by Iraq's = American-backed=20 Governing Council to hand control of marriage and divorce laws to=20 religious authorities has sparked outrage among Iraqi women, who = fear=20 clerics will revoke the rights they enjoyed under the ousted=20 regime.

Under Directive 137, approved by the council on = Dec. 29 in=20 less than 15 minutes, Muslim and Christian clergy will have final = say=20 about issues involving marriage, divorce and inheritance - matters = that=20 under Saddam Hussein were handled in civil court. The decision, = which must=20 be approved by a future Iraqi government to become law, means = religious=20 leaders would dictate such things as the number of wives a man may = have,=20 who gains custody of children in divorces, whether girls and women = may=20 inherit property, and how easily a man can get a = divorce.

Iraqi=20 officials were dumbfounded when asked where atheists would go for = such=20 decisions.

Critics say the move nudges Iraq closer to a = theocracy.=20 "This is based on Islamic Sharia law," said Samira Hossein, a = member of=20 the advocacy group League of Iraqi Women. "I believe it will = hinder the=20 democratic aspirations of Iraqi women, their right to choose, = their right=20 to educate themselves. It will damage them in the fields of = marriage,=20 family and commerce."

Dr. Raja al-Khuzai and Songul = Chapook, two of=20 the three women on the 25-member Governing Council, were out of = the=20 chamber when the vote took place, Iraqi political insiders said.=20

As details of the decision trickled out, outraged women = took to=20 the streets, accusing the Governing Council of giving in to = Islamic=20 hard-liners. Even Nasreen Barwari, Iraq's lone female minister, = chosen by=20 the Governing Council, joined a protest in Baghdad Tuesday.=20

Several religious figures and parties - including Abdul = Aziz=20 al-Hakim's Supreme Council for the Islamic Revolution of Iraq, = long backed=20 by Iran's clerical rulers - sit on the Governing = Council.

Council=20 spokesman Hamid al-Khifaey said that giving religious figures a = say about=20 family matters is what Iraqis want. "We don't have Islamic = fundamentalists=20 in Iraq," he said. "It is only right that people use the doctrine = they=20 believe in to sort out their family affairs and family=20 problems."

Under Hussein's regime, Iraqi women enjoyed a = level of=20 freedom and equality remarkable for the Muslim world. Laws = protected them=20 from child marriages and allowed daughters to inherit property, = for=20 example. New laws cannot be enforced until Iraq regains its = sovereignty,=20 scheduled to take place July 1. But the council's decision = illustrates the=20 influence of some religious Iraqi figures, such as al-Hakim, and = their=20 determination to impose religious law over Iraqis' personal lives, = critics=20 said.

Maysoon al-Damluji, a deputy culture minister, said = the civil=20 code under Hussein was enforced selectively and needed to be = fixed, not=20 wiped out.

"What we were looking for was improvement, = bringing it=20 into the modern world," she said. "Abolishing it was = unacceptable."

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