UAE to relax Islamic laws for personal freedoms

The United Arab Emirates has announced a major overhaul of the Islamic personal laws in the country -- allowing unmarried couples to cohabitate, loosening restrictions on alcohol, and criminalising "honour killings".

The UAE government today said the legal reforms have been made in an effort to improve the country's legislation and investment climate, as well as to consolidate "tolerance principles", reports Al Jazeera.

Human rights groups say thousands of women and girls are killed across the Middle East and South Asia each year by family members angered at perceived damage to their "honour". This could include eloping, fraternising with men or any transgression of conservative values regarding women, reports Reuters.

A statement from the UAE federal government carried by the official news agency WAM said it had cancelled legal clauses that allowed judges to issue merciful sentences in "honour crimes". The Emirati government said those crimes will now be treated by courts as normal murder cases, according to the Reuters report.

Residents of the Gulf Arab state will also have the right to choose inheritance laws to be used in each case, instead of the UAE legislation based on the Shariah (Islamic religious law).

Inheritance and divorce settlements are governed by Shariah-inspired law in the UAE and other Gulf Arab countries, though expatriates comprise the majority of the population, including in Dubai, the country's financial and commercial centre.

The UAE would also de-criminalise some acts which do not cause harm to others, with possible examples including alcohol consumption and consensual sex outside marriage, while leaving to prosecutors and judges to define those acts, the Reuters report added.