European Court Awards Damages To Widow Whose Inheritance Was Reduced Under Sharia Law

As previously reported, in 2018 the European Court of Human Rights held that Greece had violated Art. 14 of the European Convention on Human Rights which bans discrimination on the basis of religion when it insisted that Sharia law be applied to a wife's inheritance rights.  Sharia law resulted in her receiving only 25% of what she was bequeathed to under under a will left by her husband.  The court, however, left open the question of damages. Now in Sali v. Greece,  (ECHR, June 18, 2020), the Court held that Greece should taking steps to ensure that the wife retains her ownership of the property in Greece left to her by her husband. However if the government does not do this within a year, the Court held that Greece should compensate her for the value of the property lost, which amounts to a little over 41,000 Euros. She was also awarded 10,000 Euros for the suffering caused by the discrimination against her. Courthouse News Service reports on the decision. Three dissenting judges thought that the court should also have dealt with property in Turkey left to the wife.