Naharnet - Court Rejects Widow Bid To Grant Children Lebanese Citizenship

Court Rejects Widow's Bid to Grant Children Lebanese Citizenship
A Lebanese court on Tuesday rejected a widow's request for permission to pass citizenship on to her children in a country where the right is reserved for men, a judicial source said. "An appeals court rejected Samira Soueidan's request to pass on Lebanese citizenship to her four children," the source told Agence France Presse on condition of anonymity. The verdict said the court was "not qualified to look into citizenship cases". "Lebanese law is clear on who can be granted Lebanese citizenship and stipulates that the president alone can look into emergency cases," read a copy of the verdict obtained by AFP. The law that stipulates only men can pass on citizenship to their spouses and children dates back to 1925. Soueidan, a Lebanese national whose Egyptian husband passed away in 1994, now has a two-month deadline to appeal. A judge last year tentatively ruled that as a widow Soueidan could pass on citizenship to her children, a first in Lebanon where law prohibits women married to foreigners from passing on their nationality to their spouse or children. But the decision was quickly appealed by a higher court overseeing the case, shedding light on the struggle Soueidan and thousands of other women face in securing the necessary -- and costly -- visas for their husbands and children. Campaigns to grant women the right to pass on citizenship in nearby countries like Egypt, Algeria and Morocco have been successful in recent years. While efforts by rights groups in Lebanon to change the law have gained momentum in the past year, draft legislation remains pending in parliament. Many fear changing the law would hand citizenship to Palestinian refugees who are married to Lebanese women.(AFP)
Beirut, Updated 18 May 10, 21:32


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