Al Arabiya News reported Wednesday that Egypt's National Council for Women is protesting proposed new laws being considered by the country's Islamic-dominated Parliament that will undermine women's rights. The most widely reported and inflammatory of the proposals (see reports in RT, London Mail), building on a fatwa issued last year by Moroccan cleric Zamzami Abdul Bari, would allow husbands to have sex with their deceased wives up to six hours after the wife's death. Apparently Bari said that since the marriage remains valid even after death, either spouse could have post-death intercourse with the other. A second proposed law that is of concern to women's rights activists is one that would allow girls to marry at the age of 14. Islamists also want to repeal the Islamic right to divorce law (Khula) enacted in Egypt over a decade ago that allows women to obtain a divorce without obstruction by their husband.
UPDATE: A number of media outlets now question the accuracy of the widely published report regarding a proposed law allowing post-death intercourse. The Daily Mail now quotes a source in the Egyptian Embassy in London as saying the report is completely false, and that even if the proposal existed it had not reached Parliament. According to Volokh Conspiracy, the original report was in Al Ahram, a paper controlled by the Egyptian military that has an interest in discrediting Islamists in Parliament. Al Aribiya that then picked up the story is controlled by Saudis who may also be concerned about Islamists gaining Parliamentary power.
