An Iraqi refugee ordered by Denmark to divorce one of his two wives if he wants to stay in the Scandinavian country is willing to move to Britain or even back to Iraq to avoid splitting his family, media reported Saturday.
The man, who along with his two wives and three children was granted asylum in Denmark last year after he served as an interpreter for the Danish battalion in Iraq, received an order from the Justice Ministry at the end of April to choose between his wives by May 26.
Islam allows men to take up to four wives, but bigamy is illegal in Denmark. The man, whose name has not been revealed, initially indicated through his lawyer that he was upset by the ruling but would not take the case to court. Danish Christian daily Kristeligt Dagblad reported on Saturday however that the family had undergone a change of heart.
"The family has now thought through the decision and they all agree they do not want to divorce," the man's lawyer Marianne Voelund was quoted as saying in the paper's Internet edition. The Danish government decided in 2007, when it withdrew its troops from Iraq, to evacuate the Danish army's Iraqi interpreters and their families.
Danish officials have pointed out that all three adults in the family of the interpreter in question were granted asylum individually and would all be permitted to stay in the Scandinavian country following a divorce. Since the man had also worked as an interpreter for British forces in Iraq, the family was looking into whether they could stay together by being granted asylum in Britain instead, Voelund said.
It does not work, "we will go to court," she added. And if all else fails, the two women in the family would prefer to return to Iraq, where their lives are considered to be a grave danger, rather than go through with a divorce, according to the lawyer.