[Los Angeles Times] Borzou Daragahi - Female activists in Iran scored a rare but significant victory this week when parliament decided to shelve legislation that they said would have reduced the rights of women in marriage. The legislation set aside Monday, titled The Family Protection Bill, would have allowed husbands to get religiously sanctioned "temporary" marriages or take additional wives without the consent of their first spouses. Temporary marriages, called sigheh in Persian, are religiously sanctioned unions that can last as long as a lifetime or be as short as 30 minutes. They traditionally have been popular with male travelers or seminary students who find themselves far from their wives for long periods.
2008-09-04 01:00:00Full ArticleBACK Visit the Daily Alert Archive