The Legal Treatment of Muslim Minority Women under the Rule of Islamic Law in Greek Thrace

Abstract

The treatment of women in the frame of Islam has become subject to lively debate, lately concentrated in domains of the West where Islamic law seeks recognition without Islam being the prevailing creed. The discussions often are focused on concerns whether Muslim women are confronted with discriminative treatment and impediments to their access to justice. In this context, Greece occupies a unique position. Greece constitutes the only European State that recognises officially a special Islamic jurisdiction. In Thrace, Mufti tribunals are considered the cornerstone of application of Islamic law and administration of Islamic justice. However, this regime has been repeatedly criticised for failing to safeguard Muslim women's rights. This article engages with the legal treatment of the women who belong to the Muslim Minority of Western Thrace. It examines the ways in which this religious normative regime affects their access to justice and the potential impacts that are generated from their subjection to the authority of the system thereof. The analysis is based on a methodology that combines the study of domestic and international legal scholarship with insights that were drawn from the study on representative case law of the local Sharia courts and of the competent civil courts.

Legal Pluralism in Greece: Between Minority Rights and Individual Rights

“…If we consider discussions about Greek legal system that is based on legal pluralism, both of supportive and oppositional arguments are asserted. First of all, normative structure of religious tribunals is repeatedly criticized for failing to protect Muslim women's rights 30 . Also, Greek legal pluralism is regarded as institutional remnant of pre-modern State structure and inconsistent with cultural diversity and post-modern legal pluralism.…”

Can Non-Muslim Courts Bring Legal Change in Sharia Laws?

“…Similarly, the ruling of Appeals Court of Thrace showed that managing mufti jurisdiction does not include parent-child relations though it includes the civil courts' purview (Tsavousoglou, 2015). The property relationship of the spousal is to be excluded from the mufti jurisdiction.…”