Kenya Court Rules Islamic Courts Are Illegal

Updates will follow and we will post them here for you. The Muslim community will not react well to prohibitions of shariah courts.

From BBC:

Kenya's Islamic courts are illegal and discriminatory, a panel of judges has ruled.

The three judges said the Islamic "Kadhi" courts favoured Islam over other faiths, and that this was unconstitutional as Kenya was a secular country.

The issue of Islamic courts has been a contentious point in the country's new proposed constitution.

It is due to go to a referendum in August.

The Kadhi courts - set up under British colonial rule - mainly deal with matters of marriage and inheritance for Kenya's Muslim minority.

The Christian church in Kenya brought the case to court six years ago.

As part of a power-sharing deal to end deadly riots following elections in December 2007, it was agreed that a new constitution would be written.