Egypt proposes jailing husbands who take a second wife without first spouse consent

CAIRO: Egypt’s parliament will soon be looking into a draft law that proposes a jail term for husbands who do not inform their wives of their intention to take a second, according to Egyptian media reports.
The law previously suggested to the legislative body in Cairo by a female MP, has stirred controversy when it first became public.
MP Abla Hawary’s proposal led to heated debates on the subject between religious scholars and women’s rights advocates when she suggested a law that jails husbands for six months if he takes another wife without informing the first one.
Hawary said the law should not come as a surprise as it protects the most basic rights of women, “a wife has the right to know,” she told Egypt Independent.
Also she added that matters get more complicated in case children were born in second marriage and in case of the husband’s death.
Ashraf Tammam, Moderator of the National Council of Egyptian Families, was quoted saying: “my problem with this law that it opposes the basis of Shariah (Islamic Law), as having several wives is a base rule in Islam.”
Waleed Ismail, a Salafi scholar, told a TV program that “a woman has no right to demand divorce if a husband remarries, because no harm has been inflicted upon her.”
Dr. Sabry Ebada, an adviser for the Ministry of Religious Endowments told the same program, ‘Huna Al-Kahera’, that “a man has to get his wife’s approval before remarrying.”