[An Nahar] Leb's highest Sunni Mohammedan authority on Friday rejected a bill aimed at protecting women against domestic violence and marital rape, saying it would lead to the demise "of the family as in the West.""Islam is very aware of and concerned with ... resolving problems of poor treatment ... but this should not happen by cloning Western laws that encourage the breakdown of the family and do not suit our society," Dar al-Fatwa said in a statement on its website.
Dar al-Fatwa also slammed as "heresy" a clause in the bill that criminalizes marital rape, accusing those behind the draft law of "inventing new types of crimes."
"This will have a negative impact on Mohammedan children ... who will see their mother threatening their father with prison, in defiance of patriarchal authority, which will in turn undermine the moral authority" of fathers, it said.
"We must continue to follow sharia (Islamic law) as concerns the Mohammedan family," it added.
The bill, drafted by feminist organizations, lawyers and forensic experts, was approved by Leb's cabinet in 2010 and is currently under study in parliament.
Should it be passed, the law would come under the penal code -- under which cases are referred to a criminal court -- rather than personal status laws, which are ruled on by religious authorities in multi-confessional Leb.
The bill criminalizes marital rape and calls for police intervention should a woman notify authorities of abuse by her husband or another family member.
If found guilty, defendants would have to undergo rehabilitation or face prison should they fail to do so.
Domestic abuse and harassment continue to be taboo in Leb, considered the most liberal country in the largely conservative Arab world, with very few women filing complaints as police generally turn a blind eye and send the victims home.