Inheritance rights may widen to include women

Tehran (AsiaNews) – Yesterday, the Iranian Majliss (parliament) adopted a set of laws that will allow women to have the same rights as men in terms of heredity. The approved text of the law, however, will not go into effect until it meets the approval the country's constitutional watchdog, the Guardians Council. The latter holds the right to reject any law or government decree it believes to go against the Shariah (Islamic code of law). 

Fatima Raki, a woman reformist and current member parliament, said, "based on the new law, women will be able to inherit all property left to them by their husbands, and not just a portion" as had by defined by law until now.  

Should the new law be approved, women will be able to inherit all their husband's possessions which, in the absence of male inheritors, used to become the property of the state. According to Mohammed Ali, an attorney and himself reformist, the new set of laws represent a "huge step in the direction of equality between men and women" in Iran.  

Many human rights activists believe chances are slim that the Council will approve any law permitting women greater financial freedom and preventing them from necessarily having to remarry. 

The Guardians Council is composed of 12 hard-line Shiite members, which various times in the past vetoed laws aimed at improving women's lives in Iran. (P.B.)

• iran
• women's
• rights