Moroccan soldier's two widows each earn right to pension

The first wife of the deceased soldier, who fought for the Spanish Armed Forces in the Sahara region and was in receipt of a Spanish ex-services pension, was automatically granted a widows' allowance, but the second wife was not.

Both women were still married to the soldier at the time of his death and were aware of the fact, since bigamy and polygamy is permitted in Morocco, even though it is not necessarily commonplace.

The deceased's second wife went through the full appeal channel until she reached the highest contentious court in Spain, the Supreme (pictured), which has accepted her claim.

According to the judge, as the women and man were legally married under Moroccan law, the wives are considered joint beneficiaries.

Whilst the State law service was against both widows being granted a pension since multiple marriage is 'against public order' in Spain, and did not agree with an exception being made because of all three being Moroccan nationals.

A spokesperson said that 'the social situation in Spain' is 'very different today' from the time when the Social Security Treaty of 1979 was signed by both Spain and Morocco, which included a clause covering bigamous and polygamous marriages.

“Nowadays, millions of people from predominantly Muslim countries live legally in Spain,” the State law service argues.

“It's necessary to encourage their integration, which is, of course, does not imply they need to give up their own national customs or religion, provided these fall within our value system and laws as reflected in our national Constitution, particularly in the case of protecting the rights and dignity of women.”

The Supreme Court says it does not question the legality of multiple marriage in Spain, but that the deceased and his wives were relying upon the 1979 Treaty which allowed them to require their national law to be used to interpret their claim.

But this does not mean that each widow of a bigamous or polygamous husband gets her own pension – only one widows' pension is payable in the case of the Moroccan soldier, but it is split between both wives, meaning each will receive 50% of it.