By Nawara Fattahova

KUWAIT: As part of the government's precautionary measures to limit the spread of the coronavirus, wedding ceremonies have been banned at all ballrooms and even in private places. Yet it seems that this crisis hasn't stopped some people from getting married, especially as the justice ministry's documentation department is still operating partially. According to a statement published by the head of the documentation department, around 10 marriages are registered daily. No divorces have been registered as that section is not operating currently.

Dr Dawood Binessa, a Kuwaiti malaach (someone who officiates a marriage), is against holding marriages presently. "I believe that marrying in this time is contradictory to what the government is demanding - to limit social gatherings. I wonder how people can control the number of invitees when holding these marriages," he told Kuwait Times.

"The government has set strict penalties for violators of the curfew, including a hefty fine of KD 10,000 and imprisonment for up to three years, but people still break the curfew, so how do we expect them to not break the gathering rule? Nobody will get married with the attendance of only five people. Even if they limit the celebration to their close family, only the parents and siblings will number over 20, not mentioning other relatives and friends," said Binessa.

After the national holidays in February, the documentation department started operating partially from March 1. It also has an emergency WhatsApp number: 24991395. "This department provides services such as marriage permissions and issuing marriage certificates. After reports were published that marriages are still being registered, more people got encouraged to get married," he pointed out.

"What is good is that those who were in the process of getting divorced (by verbally saying divorce less than three times) can get back to each other before the legal period lapses. The negative side is that we can't control the marriage ceremony - an example was a lunch invitation for a marriage and the organizer recorded a video of the celebration with a large number of people gathered," Binessa said.

"I have stopped registering marriages, especially since my immune system is not very strong, and also because I'm doing this service voluntarily - it's not a job. There are 130 malaaches in Kuwait, and a large number of them are still providing their services currently," he added.