Monday, October 27, 2008

Sharia'a law

Interesting case handed down from the House of Lords on October 22nd. The Lords allowed a women who had fled Lebanon with her seven year old son to stay in the U.K. The woman, divorced from her husband, fled Lebanon because, under the law of that country, custody of a child passes automatically from a women to a male member of the family. In this case, her husband. The Lords said that it would be a violation of her human rights under the European Convention of Human Rights. I'm not sure if you could call it that under the law, as Lebanon is not a signatory of the ECHR, but it seems a bit messy. One would wonder what would happen to a British child if they were taken to Lebanon by a parent. Would a court there order the child retuned to Britain?