Bahrain Adopts New Family Law For Sunnis; Excludes Shiites

IPS reports today that Bahrain's King Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa on May 27 approved a new family law for Sunnis that protects the rights of women in Shariah courts. The new law sets out specific guidelines for courts to apply to marriage and divorce, alimony, child custody and inheritance cases. This is intended to lessen the mistreatment of women resulting from giving excessive discretion to male judges. However Shiites were excluded from coverage under the law after conservative Shiite scholars and lawmakers threatened nationwide protests and rallies. A spokesman for the Shiite bloc in Parliament said the law clashed with Shariah principles. Fundamentalist Shiites also fear that the law could be a first step toward applying secular civil law to Bahraini Muslims