European court: EU rules don’t cover Sharia law divorces

BERLIN – The European Union’s top court ruled Wednesday that the bloc’s divorce regulations don’t cover private agreements, throwing a case back to a Munich court to decide whether to recognize a divorce granted under religious Sharia law to a couple who are both Syrian-German.

Raja Mamisch and Soha Sahyouni, who married in Syria and live in Germany, had been granted a divorce in 2013 in Syria in an Islamic Sharia law proceeding. The case came to Europe when Mamisch applied to have the divorce recognized in Germany and the Munich state court ruled the EU’s “Rome III” regulation applied and granted his application.

But Sahyouni appealed to the Munich court, which asked for the European Court of Justice’s opinion, which in turn ruled that Rome III doesn’t apply to such “private” divorces.

The court sent the case back to Munich, saying it needs to decide under national law.

The Munich court said it could not comment on what might happen next in the case until it receives the full European Court of Justice decision.