Jordan: Islamic Court rejects Jordanian orphan's case

A setback for the courageous Christian widow Siham Qandah in Jordan — despite pledges from King Abdullah himself.

July 6 (Compass) — An Islamic court in Jordan has rejected a teenage Christian girl’s lawsuit to cancel her Muslim uncle’s legal guardianship over herself and her younger brother.

The June 20 ruling was a setback for Christian widow Siham Qandah, whose estranged brother Abdullah al-Muhtadi has been trying for the last six years to take custody of her two minor children to raise them as Muslims.

Embezzlement Charges

Amman’s Al-Abdali Sharia Court had ordered an investigation in April into allegations that al-Muhtadi had embezzled from Qandah’s children nearly $20,000 of their U.N.-allocated trust funds, currently held under the jurisdiction of the Widows and Orphans Fund of the Jordanian army.

If ruled guilty, al-Muhtadi would have been disqualified from serving as the children’s legal guardian.

Ultimately, the Islamic court’s blanket dismissal of objections to al-Muhtadi’s guardianship again raised the legal possibility that Qandah’s children could be forcibly taken away from their mother to be raised by their Muslim uncle until age 18.

Mother Could be Jailed

Qandah herself could also be jailed for disobeying orders from the Supreme Islamic Court of Jordan to hand over her daughter Rawan, now 15, and son Fadi, 14.

“Now Siham is in real trouble,” sighed a Christian friend from Amman. ...

Baptized Christians, Rawan and Fadi were orphaned 10 years ago when their soldier father died serving in the U.N. Peacekeeping Forces in Kosovo. When Qandah went to register for their orphan benefits shortly after their father’s death, an Islamic court produced a “conversion” certificate, claiming her husband had converted to Islam three years before his death without telling his Christian family.

Their father had not even signed the document, but under Islamic law it could not be contested. So as minors, both children’s legal identity changed to Muslim, and only when they reach 18 years of age will they be allowed to choose whether to remain “Muslim” or return to their Christian identity.

Meanwhile, their Christian mother was not allowed to handle their financial affairs, so Qandah asked al-Muhtadi to serve as their Muslim guardian. Although estranged from his Christian family since his conversion to Islam as a teenager, Qandah’s brother agreed to receive and forward the children’s monthly orphan benefits.

But he soon began appropriating some payments, and in 1998, he launched a four-year lawsuit to take custody of the children away from his sister, so he could raise them as Muslims. When Qandah lost her final appeal in the case in February 2002, Jordan’s highest court ordered her to surrender the children to her brother’s custody. ...

King Abdullah II and other members of the Jordanian royal family remain informed of Qandah’s plight, pledging that she will not lose her children or be sent to jail. But 28 months after her Supreme Court ultimatum, an official solution has yet to be found.

Posted by Robert at July 6, 2004 7:59 PM
Print this entry | Email this entry | Digg this | del.icio.us