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Malaysia to annul 200 'fake' Muslim marriages
Authorities in northern Malaysia plan to annul nearly 200 marriages performed by an imam who allowed Muslim men to secretly take multiple wives, reports have said.
Officials in Kelantan state, the only state in the country that is ruled by a hardline Islamic party, said the imam belonged to a criminal syndicate that charged couples for covert wedding ceremonies.
"The imam is not authorised to solemnise marriages," the director of Kelantan's Islamic affairs department, Abdul Aziz Abdul Rahman, was quoted as saying in the New Straits Times, adding that 199 couples would be summoned.
"We are tracing them through the addresses provided to the syndicate," Abdul Aziz said.
"Surprisingly, the addresses are correct but nothing about their marriages is valid. The certificates, stamps and signatures were all forged."
The syndicate, believed to be in operation for about five years, is used by Muslim men who want to take extra wives without their spouses knowing, and also by eloping couples, the newspaper said.
The state Bernama news agency said the syndicate was bringing in fake officiants from Thailand, which borders Kelantan, and is using fake government stamps from departments such as the police to bring them across the border.
Abdul Aziz said the couples included well-known Malaysian personalities, most of whom did not live in Kelantan, Bernama reported, without giving names.
Malaysian Muslim men are allowed up to four wives, but activists and women's groups say polygamy is cruel and has deviated from its original purpose during the days of the Prophet Mohammed, which was to protect widows and orphans. |
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Post time 6-2-2007 11:25 AM
