Muslim woman in Thrace takes sharia law dispute to Human Rights court

Robbed of her inheritance through the application of sharia law in Greece, a muslim woman seeks recourse at the ECHR

Chatitze Molla Sali, aged 65, is the first woman from the Muslim minority located in the northeast Greek province of Thrace to dispute a sharia law ruling that stripped her of part of her inheritance. She has taken her case to the European Court of Human Rights. Her husband’s death in March 2008 left her all of his possessions, however, his family disputed the inheritance by complaining to the state-appointed local mufti that under sharia Muslims are not allowed to make a will.

Though Sali’s claim was endorsed when she appealed to a civil court, Greece’s Supreme Court ruled in October 2013 that matters of inheritance involving members of the Muslim minority must be settled by a mufti as required by sharia law. The reason for this ruling in the predominately Orthodox  country is due to the terms of the 1923 Treaty of Lausanne, which allows the Muslim community in Thrace to enjoy exceptional rights, including one that allows them to live according to their existing religious customs.

Now that Sali’s case landed in the Strasbourg court, it will take three years for a ruling to be issued.