Romeo and Juliet couple kept their wedding secret for TWO MONTHS after having illegal civil marriage

Kholoud Sukkariyeh and Nidal Darwish wed last November in Bekaa
They kept the wedding a secret while waiting for government documents
But when they hadn't arrived, the pair decided to take their union public
Their partnership has sparked fierce debate on Lebanese marriage laws

A 'Romeo and Juliet' couple renounced their religion to have the first civil wedding ceremony in Lebanon - and then had to keep it secret for two months.

Kholoud Sukkariyeh and Nidal Darwish, both Muslims, did not tell anyone they had tied the knot after deciding to take a secret stand against the country's restrictive marriage laws.

They are from different Islam sects, Shiite and Sunni, and had to erase their Islamic faith from their ID cards before they were allowed the civil ceremony.

The couple then convinced a mayor in the east of the war-torn country, which was riven by civil conflict from 1975 to 1990, to marry them under an ancient loophole that allows non-religious people to be wed.

Now they are at the centre of a nationwide backlash over whether civil ceremonies should be introduced.

Couples from one of the country's 18 different religions normally have to travel 125 miles to Cyprus, the nearest place they can enter a civil partnership.

But Kholoud and Nidal became the first pairing to hold such a ceremony on Lebanese soil, marrying in Bekaa in the east of the country last November.

English teacher Kholoud, 29, told The National: 'Lebanon is a country based on sectarianism, once civil marriage is legalised, this means that the first column of sectarianism is broken.'

In order to hold the ceremony, the pair had to remove their religious sects - Shiite and Sunni - from their national identity cards, a practice which has been legal in the country since 2009.

After obtaining papers from their local mayor, they could then take advantage of an obscure 1936 law that allows people who do not belong to a particular religious denomination to enter a civil union.

The pair kept the wedding secret for two months while the interior ministry approved the marriage but decided to go public when confirmation of their union had still not arrived last month.

The pair have since received overwhelming support on social media websites

A Facebook group called Tazawajna Madani ... w a'belkoun (We had a civil marriage ... may you as well), set up for those married in civil unions abroad to share their pictures has attracted 25,000 'likes' within days of its launch.

But Prime Minister Nijab Mikati said that civil union is a contentious issue that Lebanon doesn't need right now.

Lebanon's Grand Mufti, the leader of the country's Sunni Muslim community, issued a fatwa against civil marriage in January but Kholoud says that the pair were expecting their union to spark outrage in some quarters.

She said: 'Civil marriage threatens the politicians, because once sectarianism is broken, this means we won't be following them blindly by our sects, we will be following our loyalty to the country.'

The newlyweds hope that other couples will follow their lead but they currently have no legal backing governing civil marriage.

According to family lawyer Chawkat Houlla, two Muslims who wed would be subject to Sharia. The lawyer said that it is difficult to see the law changing in the near future.

But for couples from different religions, civil unions have no legal grounding.

Previous attempts to legalise civil marriage in the 1950s and in 1998 have failed.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/arti...n-Lebanon.html

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