Dora’s marriage arouses the anger of Tunisian women: has it really become “harmful”?

Far from the celebration and congratulations that many have sent via social media to the artist, Dora, on the occasion of her marriage to businessman Hani Saad, there has been a state of anger and attack on Dora by Tunisian women.

The reason was due to the publication of a message from a woman called “Menna Hisham” – it was not possible for us to verify its authenticity – in which she said that she was the wife of “Hani” and that the divorce between them did not take place, although the latter did not comment.

Activists on social media also shared a photo of Saad with his first wife and children on his previous birthday.

The first wife commented on the photo: “The happiest birthday of my life has passed, sweetheart. We have been through many happy and sad crises together … We have been through a lot in our life and you know it .. . I cannot live without you … I love you. “

But why were women angry in Tunisia?

Tunisian law considers marriage with a second marriage as a crime and it is also punished for simple marriage in violation of legal formulas.

Article 18 of the Personal Status Code stipulates that polygamy is prohibited, and that anyone who marries in the state of marriage and before dissolving the marriage of the previous marriage will be punished by one year of imprisonment and a fine. two hundred and forty thousand francs, or one of the two penalties, even if the new marriage is not concluded according to the provisions of the law. .

On the basis of the provisions of the two aforementioned chapters, if a wife discovers that her husband is associating with another woman, she can seize the security authorities or the prosecution, because this constitutes a crime under Tunisian law which is criminalized by the annulment of the second marriage by civil procedure.

– Anyone who is married in violation of the formulas mentioned in Law 3 of 1957 of 1957 of the First Civil Status Organization, who concludes a second marriage contract and continues to have sexual relations with his first wife, is liable to same penalties.

– The same penalties will be imposed on the husband who deliberately concludes a marriage contract with a person referred to for the penalties provided for in the two preceding paragraphs.

Article 53 of the Penal Code concerning mitigating circumstances does not apply to the crimes set out in this chapter.

– Article 36 of the law on civil status provides: “A marriage concluded in violation of the provisions of article 31 above will be considered null and the spouses will be punished in addition to that of a penalty of imprisonment for three months.

– If there are criminal proceedings according to the provisions of the previous paragraph, a decision is taken by a judgment on the crime and annulment of the marriage.

– “If the spouses have resumed or continued cohabitation despite the declaration of annulment of their marriage, they will be punished by a prison sentence of six months. Article 53 of the Penal Code does not apply to the offenses established in this chapter. ”

With the start of the wedding ceremony, former Tunisian MP Fatima Al-Masdi launched an attack on the Tunisian actress, accusing her of humiliating Tunisian women because she agreed to marry a man previously married and admitted that she would be “harmful”.

She wrote on her own page on a social networking site: “My beautiful lady, elegant and educated, I regret writing these words to you and I will not insult you by marrying you because it is a marriage that humiliates women. Tunisian women, so how do you accept being harmful? And how do you agree to strike the Bourguiba school which freed Tunisian women from the chains of reactionary thought.