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A judge in Texas effectively denied a US citizen her constitutional rights to due process earlier this year and instead decided to try her before an Islamic court where her testimony is deemed inferior. And when her lawyers sounded the alarm – the judge doubled over.
What are the details?
In March, Collin District Judge Andrea Thompson ordered a Muslim woman who was seeking a divorce from her husband to submit to arbitration, not through the regular channels, but before an Islamic court, also known as the Fiqh Panel – a move that the woman’s lawyers consider an obvious and unscrupulous violation of her constitutional rights.
The woman, Mariam Ayad, tried to exercise her legal right to divorce last year when her husband, Ayad Hashim Latif, announced that she had signed an Islamic prenuptial agreement on their wedding day in 2008 to cover all matters in Regarding marriage and divorce are decided according to Sharia law.
According to court documents, Mariam claims that she was essentially deceived and cheated in order to sign the document. At that time she believed she was signing two copies of a marriage declaration customary in Muslim cultures.
Even so, Mariam’s attorneys argue against the agreement – which says that a three-person body of Muslim imams should decide on all matters related to marriage, including alimony, property sharing, child support, and even custody of the couple’s 6-year-old son – should be in place of US law. A copy of the agreement was made available to TheBlaze.
The Texas district judge ruled – in complete disregard of both federal and state law – that the marriage contract was binding without taking any testimony from the woman.
In the absence of discharge, Mariam is now being asked to resolve her divorce matters with the Islamic Association of North Texas before the Muslim clergy, who consider their testimony and evidence to be half as difficult as a man’s.
Mariam has filed a Mandamus-Writ of Mandamus with the Fifth Court of Appeals in Dallas to prevent the lower court from enforcing the award. She is represented by Michelle O’Neil and Michael Wysocki of the O’Neil Wysocki law firm in Dallas.
What changes did the judge make?
Additionally, court documents TheBlaze received show that Thompson abandoned the original March order after Mariam’s attorneys challenged it. But instead of changing the effect of the order, the judge seemed to have changed just part of the wording to make it less controversial.
“It is therefore ordered that the defendant Application for enforcement of the Islamic marriage contract and referral of the case to a Muslim court or a Fiqh body granted and the court refers the case to a Muslim court or a fiqh panel for [Alternative Dispute Resolution], “Reads the March 24th court order, which TheBlaze reviewed.
However, an updated June 14 order that removed words such as “Islamic”, “Muslim” and “Fiqh” reaffirmed the court’s decision.
“The court has no discretion other than enforcing the agreement of the parties in their marriage contract signed on December 26, 2008 and referring the parties to arbitration under the terms of their agreement,” the June order stated.
“I’ve never seen a judge in my life who did that,” said Wysocki in a telephone conversation.
Anything else?
The strange case serves as an example of the incompatibility between American law and Islamic Sharia law, and of the clash that can arise when the two systems are juxtaposed.
Particularly unacceptable in this case, according to Mariam’s attorneys, is for a U.S. district judge to compel a person to arbitrate under a foreign jurisdiction that contradicts the laws of the country of which they are citizens.
“As a society, we are well beyond the times when women needed their husbands’ permission to divorce. Our United States Constitution gives every American citizen the right to marry, but also the right to divorce,” O said ‘Neil in a statement to TheBlaze. “Judge Thompsons ruling requires this American citizen to submit to a non-American, unconstitutional, male-run, Muslim religious tribunal for permission to divorce her husband, where she will have the right to divorce under Sharia law. Law could very well be denied. ” Family code. “
Wysocki added, “We just celebrated our country’s birthday – the day we remember the freedoms we have as Americans. Preserving our American way of life is important. Our US Constitution is important. Our American courts matter. When I have air, I will defend and support our Constitution and women’s rights in our American courts. I will fight any judge who finds it acceptable to force an American citizen to have his or her rights determined in a fiqh court, a three-man body that applies Sharia law. That will never be okay in my opinion. “
Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton has spoken on cases where state judges take into account foreign laws, particularly Sharia law. He affirmed that courts should not apply “foreign law” if “doing so violates a party’s right to due process or the clearly defined public order of that state”.
O’Neil and Wysocki determined that the ball was in the Fifth Court of Appeal at this point. But they said they plan to file with the Texas Supreme Court in the next stage of the trial.
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