A court in Lille has been condemned by feminists, civil rights organizations and the French government after it ruled to annul the marriage of a young Muslim couple after the husband discovered on their wedding night that his bride was not a virgin.

A fatwa against the emancipation of women.

The court heard that while the wedding party was in full swing at the families home the groom came downstairs and complained that his new bride was not the virgin she had claimed to be as he was unable to display a blood stained sheet which is traditionally used by Muslims as proof of the bride's 'purity'.

The groom went to the courts first thing the next morning and was granted the annulment on the grounds that his bride had deceived him.

The case was originally heard in April of this year but was not made public until last week. The courts ruling has caused a storm of controversy across France with all political parties opposing it.

Valerie Letard the Minister for Women's Rights in France said she was "shocked to see that today in France the civil law can be used to diminish the status of women". Meanwhile the minister in charge of France's suburbs Fadela Amara, who is also of Muslim origin, called the ruling "a fatwa against the emancipation of women".

France is a strictly secular country where religious clothing and other garb is banned from public schools. It is feared that the ruling will also lead to an increase of young Muslim women having a controversial procedure to restore their hymens.


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