Justice Minister Mamdouh Mar’ee has ordered the formation of a committee to draft a personal status law for non-muslims. The committee will be presided over by Omar el-Sherif, the minister’s assistant for legislative affairs, and will operate for one month.
According to Mar’ee, the committee’s purpose is to remove all obstacles in matters relating to personal stauts for non-muslims. The decision comes amidst Pope Shenouda’s efforts to contact heads of other Christian dnominations in Egypt–Catholics and Anglicans–to agree on draft law and pre-emt allegations by the government that Egypt’s Christians are divided on this issue.
A source close to Shenouda has said the pope is waiting for the Minister of State for Legal Affairs Mofeed Shehab to return from Geneva in order to discuss how to pass the law in a timely fashion. The pope has received a promise from a high-ranking official that the crisis, which erupted after the administrative court’s decision allow second marriages two weeks ago, would be resolved quickly.
The source also revealed the pope is ready to discuss the draft law so long as it does not contradict Chrisitian law.
Pope Shenouda will hold a meeting this week with a number of lawyers to discuss responses to the Admistrative Court’s recent decision.
Translated from the Arabic Edition.
