While usually I celebrate any small victory over Islamification of western nations by the courts (they are exceedingly rare after all) this is a bad one. People have a right to make personal decisions for whatever stupid reason they may wish. If a man married a women only to discover on the wedding night that she wore a padded bra or if a woman married a man to discover that while he had assured her he was wealthy he in fact was a pauper or some other quality which matters to her but perhaps not to us, these people have every right to reverse this decision. This is not a women’s right issue unless women demand the right to lie.

A woman told a man she was a virgin. A man who insists his wife be a virgin is an idiot but if we remove the basic right to be an idiot we are all deeply screwed. While I disagree with Islam in nearly every precept idea and legal tradition it has, an individual has the right to be properly informed to make personal decisions for themselves. Below is the story from BBC News

Eeyore for Vlad

The government fears the ruling could set a worrying legal precedent

A French court of appeal has overruled the decision to annul the marriage of two Muslims because the bride had lied about being a virgin.

They are now effectively married again – even though both partners said they accepted the original judgement.

That verdict had caused emotional debate and outrage among some feminists, who said it amounted to a “fatwa” against women’s liberty.

But the husband’s lawyers said the case had nothing to do with religion.

They argued that the wife had breached the wedding contract, and tricked her husband into marriage.

Under the French civil code, a marriage can be annulled if a spouse has lied about an “essential quality” of the relationship.

‘Kandahar-stlye’

According to media reports, the husband, an engineer in his thirties, married the trainee nurse in the summer of 2006, having been assured by her that she had never previously had a boyfriend.

The woman admitted having lied about being a virgin, and later accepted the court annulment.

Her lawyer said she did not want to contest the judgement, and simply wanted to get on with her life.

But Justice Minister Rachida Dati ordered a review of the verdict, which was referred to in some quarters as “a real fatwa against the emancipation of women” and “a ruling handed down in Kandahar”.

Feminists argued the decision was unfair because a woman would not be able to cancel her marriage if she thought her husband was not a virgin.

Critics have also asked if the judge would have ruled the same way if the marriage was not between two Muslims, and claimed the decision was incompatible with France’s secular principles.