AhlulBayt News Agency - Iraqi Kurdish Islamic preacher Abdullatif Salafi was brought into custody on Tuesday over a lawsuit filed by the prosecutor-general over an illegal marriage.
Salafi is remanded in custody until June 29, according to an order by a Khanaqin court accusing him of obtaining a marriage without the state’s permission.
“Salafi has been accused of obtaining a marriage with a third wife without the permission of the court or a judge. The court is able to keep Salafi [under detention] until he is released on bail.” reported a source who spoke under the condition of anonymity.
Salafi, the former speaker at Bahasht Mosque in Sulaimani, was detained according to article 10 act. 5 of the personal status law, which was amended in 2008. The law states if found guilty, the accused can receive a 3-5 year sentence.
Later on Tuesday Abdullatif Salafi has been released on bail.
The Islamic preacher also teaches at the Institute of Islamic Sciences and has generated some controversy in the past on Facebook over a marriage to a student of the institute.
In 2008, the Kurdistan parliament, passed an amendment to the marriage law that outlawed polygamy in all cases except where the wife is unable to bear children, and consents to her husband taking a second wife – but not more than a second – for this purpose.
The law has proven difficult to enforce. Some Kurds resident in the autonomous KRG, have simply travelled outside the region to Kurdish-majority cities over the border, such as Kirkuk, to engage in polygamous marriages.
And while women’s rights activists were happy about the 2008 amendments and believe that they have made a big difference to the practice of polygyny in the three major parts of Iraqi Kurdistan –Erbil, Sulêmanî and Duhok – they also say that there are a number of important loopholes that still need to be closed.
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