Coptic Pope to challenge marriage verdict
The Pope of the Coptic Orthodox Church of Alexandria has decided to file a lawsuite before the higher administrative court against its verdict obliging the church to allow Coptic divorcees to remarry. Mr Ramses al-Naggar, lawyer for the Orthodox Church, said that Patriarch of Saint Mark Diocese Pope Shenouda III of Alexandria has assigned the church’s legal committee to prepare the draft of the lawsuit he intends to file.
“The Pope convened two days ago with members of the legal committee at the papal headquarters to discuss the legal aspect of the crisis. He assigned the committee with preparing the lawsuit’s draft, which we have almost completed and will send to him within hours for him to review it personally,” Mr Al Naggar said.
“The Pope will file the lawsuit by himself early next week,” he said.
Maged Hanna, one of the lawyers who attended the meeting, said it was decided that the Pope’s lawyer, Monsef Sulayman, would be in charge of filing an appeal to stop the ruling of the higher administrative court regarding the remarriage of Coptic divorcees. The decision was taken after the participants disagreed on how to contest the ruling and whether it will be through filing a lawsuit to cancel the verdict or to declare it as invalid.
Mr Hana said the Pope issued a decision prohibiting any lawyer affiliated to the church from filing a lawsuit on his own against the recent administrative court’s ruling.
Mr Nagib Gubrail, a lawyer for the church and head of Egyptian Union for Human Rights, said the lawsuit to be filed by the Pope before the higher constitutional court will be based on “conflict between laws and contradiction between rulings.”
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