ECHR Hears Sharia Law Case
from Christian Concern:
Tim Dieppe attended a hearing of The Grand Chamber of the European Court of Human Rights this week in which a case concerning the application of sharia law was discussed. The case concerns an inheritance dispute and whether it should be resolved according to a civil will, or according to sharia law. Christian Concern intervened in the case because of its importance, and in order to make clear that sharia law is incompatible with human rights. Tim comments on the case and its implications.
I attended a hearing of The Grand Chamber of the European Court of Human Rights this week where a case concerning the application of sharia law in Europe was discussed. The case is Molla Sali v. Greece (application no. 2042/14) and it concerns an inheritance dispute about whether a man’s estate should be divided according to the terms of a legal will he drew up, or according to sharia law. Christian Concern submitted an intervention to the case because of the importance of the case in European law and its potential impact on UK domestic law. The ruling will determine whether sharia law can have supremacy over a Member State’s domestic law.
The case
There are legal provisions for Islamic customs to be recognised in the region of Thrace which go back to a treaty signed in 1923. This inheritance case went through several courts in Greece, with the highest court ruling that sharia law should apply. The case was later referred to The Grand Chamber of the European Court of Human Rights whose rulings cannot be appealed. A ruling that sharia law should have precedence over the state’s civil law would set an alarming precedent for the Council of Europe’s 47 Member States, including the United Kingdom. By contrast, a ruling that civil law should overrule sharia law would have legal benefit throughout the Council of Europe.
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