On July 8, Karim S. suffered a stroke while he was in the toilet at Orly Airport. The 50-year-old was a cabin manager for the airline Corsair and was on his way back to Barcelona, where he lived with his partner Toni. Karim was French, but paid his taxes in Spain and had long ago broken off contact with his family. Nevertheless, French justice turned to them after his death, setting off a judicial tangle, Slate reports.
In the city, Karim and Toni were living under the legal form of “pareja de hecho” – the equivalent of the marriage contract in France, but not its legal counterpart. When the French authorities discovered his body, they assumed Karim was single and contacted his family. The Muslim family agreed to take the body and bury it according to Islamic rites.
The problem was that, according to Toni and his acquaintances, Karim did not consider himself a Muslim at all. His sexuality had even caused him to break off contact with his family, where it was perceived as a “disgrace”. On the contrary, the 50-year-old had even expressed the wish to be cremated – but he had never officially expressed this wish. Toni and his lawyers then turned to the French authorities and demanded to be entrusted with Karim’s mortal remains.
Lawyers Del Barco and Garre, contacted by Slate, believe that “from the point of view of Spanish and European law, this is a violation of fundamental freedoms and that their contacts with France are at best characterised by indifference, at worst by obstructionist intentions”. The two lawyers even stated that they had still not received Karim’s death certificate: So in the eyes of the Spanish justice system, Karim is still alive. Until the matter is resolved, his body is in a French morgue.