Iraqi Kurd MPs vote to limit polygamy

ARBIL, Iraq (AFP) — The parliament in Iraq's autonomous Kurdish region, under pressure from feminist groups, passed a law on Thursday limiting the circumstances under which a man may have more than one wife.
"We did not manage to prohibit polygamy outright, but we succeeded in strictly limiting it," female MP Khaman Zrar told AFP.

Islam, the predominant religion in Iraq, allows a man to have as many as four wives, as long as he can support them in equal conditions, but many Muslim countries prohibit polygamy.

However, the law of Iraq permits the practice.

Under the law adopted by the Kurds, a man will be permitted to take a second wife, and no more, only in cases where his first wife is unable to have children or suffers from a sexually transmittable disease.

Laila Abdullah, a member of the Union of Kurdish Women, said she regretted "that we could not ban polygamy altogether," but said the group would continue pressing parliament to do so.
AFP

Damn those Kurds to hell