Posted on February 7, 2008

Islam: Moderate Muslims To Report Polygamy In Italy, Sbai

ANSAmed (Naples), February 4, 2008

“We call on all representatives of the moderate Islam in Italy to help us in the battle against polygamy reporting all persons who practice it in our country,” Souad Sbai, president of the Association of Moroccan Women in Italy (Acmid-Donna) appealed after an interview with Mario Scialoja published today on the ‘Corriere della Sera’. In the interview Scialoja says he knows “some Italian Muslims who are in fact polygamous: the first marriage is legal for Italy, while the second one is celebrated only in front of an imam”. “We call upon all people of good will like him to start bringing out the names of these people, who often pretend to be moderate and claim in public what in fact is not true,” Sbai said. “Unfortunately the numerous Italian associations that deal with human rights hardly realise in what kind of hell a woman in polygamous marriage lives in Italy due to the complete solitude she is in.” “Polygamy in Italy is a phenomenon that is growing due to the imams who have no respect for the dictates of the Italian constitution and the principle of equality between man and woman. They celebrate this type of marriage inside mosques and garages, almost always in secret”. Recalling that Acmid assists women victims of violence, caused by polygamy too, Sbai calls upon the institutions and the moderate Islam to play their role. She is supported by the New Italian Immigrants’ Party, which speaks of 15,000–16,000 cases of polygamy in Italy.