Paris  - An appeals court in the northern French city of Douai on Monday reversed an earlier court decision annulling a marriage on the ground that the bride had lied about her non-virginity.

"A lie is no basis for the annulment of a marriage if it does not concern the fundamental character (of one of the partners)," the court wrote in its judgment.

The attorney for the husband said that the ruling "threatens individual liberties."

The couple, both Moroccan-born Muslims, married in 2006. The husband, a 30-year-old engineer who, asked for the annulment after his bride was unable to produce a bloody bedsheet on the wedding night.

The decision by the court in Lille to annul the marriage had provoked a wave of protests, and moved Prime Minister Francois Fillon to seek to override what could have been an embarrassing judicial precedent.

Monday's decision restored the marriage, but apparently only for a short time. Husband and wife have both moved from northern France and wish to have as little contact as possible with each other. (dpa)