Copenhagen - An Iraqi interpreter, who was recently granted asylum in Denmark, has opted to divorce one of his two wives rather than face a legal case, his lawyer said Monday. The family services department at the Justice Ministry earlier April said it was weighing legal action against the interpreter over possible bigamy unless he voluntarily divorced one of the women he married in his native Iraq.
"He has not reached a final decision but he will likely opt for divorce," lawyer Marianne Volund was quoted as telling the online edition of Jyllands-Posten.
The man married his first wife in 1995 and the second wife in 2003. He has children with both women, the report said.
Last year, Denmark withdrew its troops from southern Iraq and decided to offer asylum to some 200 Iraqis including their families.
Iraqi interpreters and others who have served with foreign organizations or allied forces have often been targeted by militant groups.
Both the interpreter and the two women have refugee status and none of the women would be deported from Denmark in case of a divorce.
Inger Stojberg of Prime Minister Anders Fogh Rasmussen's Liberal Party welcomed the decision saying "polygamy was against Danish law and culture - and also against the equal rights of women."
