Iraq parliament adopts revised bill after outcry over underage marriage

BAGHDAD: Iraq´s parliament passed into law on Tuesday a revised bill that had sparked outrage over fears it rolled back women´s rights and permitted underage marriage.

The parliament said on its website that it had adopted “the proposal to amend the Personal Status Law”, as well as “the second amendment of the general amnesty law”. The amendment to the 1959 Personal Status Law allows people to choose between religious or civil regulations for family matters such as marriage, inheritance, divorce and child custody.

An earlier version of the amendments faced a backlash from feminists and civil society groups over fears it would lower the minimum age for Muslim girls to marry to as young as nine years old.

But a revised version reinstated clauses of the old law that set the age of marriage at 18 -- or 15 with the consent of legal guardians and a judge, MP Mohamed Anouz told AFP. Under the new amendment, couples can opt for Shia or Sunni rules, and clerics and lawyers will have four months to establish community-specific regulations.