Redemption controversy

Reem Leila reports as Egypt's grand mufti pushes for the use of DNA as a means of establishing paternal kinship

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This week, Grand Mufti Ali Gomaa approved a potentially ground-breaking new amendment to Egypt's Personal Status Law. He informed the People Assembly's Complaints and Proposals Committee of his concession to resort to DNA (deoxyribonucleic acid) tests to check whether people -- and by implication, possible fathers and their children -- are in fact related. According to the Grand Mufti, Islam does not forbid DNA testing in determining paternity. On the contrary, it is encouraged insofar as it is by far the most advanced and accurate method currently available. "Islam orders us to follow scientific means to reach accurate truths," he said. Gomaa added that Islam totally forbids parents from denying their children, as this relationship is both the parents' and the child's inalienable right.

In Islam, legitimate children are those born to married couples only. But it is often impossible to determine the father's identity. Children born to Urfi, or blood marriages, or in suspected cases of adultery have thus far been bereft of many of their rights, due to problems establishing the identity of the father. Now however, men will be obliged to undergo a DNA test to establish their relationship with the child. However, the child will bear the mother's name, and not the father's. Gomaa explained that the decision to prevent children born out of wedlock from bearing their father's name emanates from an unwillingness to encourage youth to commit adultery on the basis of the new amendment. "This new amendment must not be applied with retroactive force," he stressed.

DNA paternity tests are widely recognised as being 99 per cent accurate. According to MP Gamal Zahran, along with two other MPs submitted the proposal for the legal amendment, there are nearly two million children in Egypt whose parents' identities are unknown. In addition, 14,000 people have filed court cases to prove their paternal affiliations.

DNA testing constitutes such an accurate method, that if a child does not share any DNA bands with a given man, then one can rest assured that the man is not the biological father. Thus false claims will also be rendered punishable by law. "In cases where the mother has filed a case to prove her child's paternal affiliation and the claim turned out to be false, she will be subject to three years in prison and to LE25,000 fine," Zahran said.

The proposed amendment is still being studied at the Ministry of Justice. But head of People's Assembly Complaints and Proposals Committee Councillor Mohamed Goweily, said that if the ministry approves the amendment, it will not be accepted as it is. A further amendment to the Personal Status Law will be necessary to modify penalties for adultery. According to the current law there is no penalty for adultery committed among unmarried couples, except for that committed in exchange for money. In cases of married couples, only the husband has the right to file an adultery case against his wife, while the husband cannot be punished unless he commits adultery at his matrimonial house. "The committee will study the creation of new penalties for men and women committing adultery out of wedlock, as well as aggravating existing penalties for married couples," added Goweily.

Urfi marriages have become increasingly widespread over recent years because they provide a legitimate means to have sex. But it is almost invariably women who suffer when such marriages go wrong. Not only do such marriages fail to offer women the legal protection afforded by registered marriage contracts, but it is also potential children who have to face lifelong consequences.

Zeinab Radwan, vice-president of the People's Assembly, agrees with Goweily's proposal to amend penalties for adultery. According to Islamic law, married couples who commit adultery are, in theory, to be stoned to death, while non-married couples receive 100 lashes each. Islam also encourages registration of a child born out of wedlock under the mother's name as a further sub-penalty, to prevent people from sinning. "When mothers or fathers realise that their children might also be subject to their sin, they will reconsider committing it in the first place," she said. As Egyptian law does not currently apply such rules, the result is corruption. Radwan stressed that severe penalties must be enforced to deter both men and women.

And in cases where DNA tests prove a child's affiliation to his or her father, the latter will also bear the burden. "The child will be registered in the father's ID as an illegitimate child. He or she, accordingly, will not be able to inherit any money from him. The mother will also have the child registered in her ID as illegitimate. This measure will force people not to commit such sins," Radwan said.