Yemeni girl, 12, dies in painful childbirth
By Mohammed JamjoomCNN
AMMAN, Jordan (CNN) -- A 12-year-old Yemeni girl, who was forced into marriage, died during a painful childbirth that also killed her baby, a children's rights group said Monday.
Fawziya Ammodi struggled for three days in labor, before dying of severe bleeding at a hospital on Friday, said the Seyaj Organization for the Protection of Children.
"Although the cause of her death was lack of medical care, the real case was the lack of education in Yemen and the fact that child marriages keep happening," said Seyaj President Ahmed al-Qureshi.
Born into an impoverished family in Hodeidah, Fawziya was forced to drop out of school and married off to a 24-year-old man last year, al-Qureshi said.
Child brides are commonplace in Yemen, especially in the Red Sea Coast where tribal customs hold sway. Hodeidah is the fourth largest city in Yemen and an important port.
More than half of all young Yemeni girls are married off before the age of 18 -- many times to older men, some with more than one wife, a study by Sanaa University found.While it was not immediately known why Fawziya's parents married her off, the reasons vary. Sometimes, financially-strapped parents offer up their daughters for hefty dowries.
Marriage means the girls are no longer a financial or moral burden to their parents. And often, parents will extract a promise from the husband to wait until the girl is older to consummate the marriage.
The issue of Yemeni child brides came to the forefront in 2008 with 10-year-old Nujood Ali.
She was pulled out of school and married to a man who beat and raped her within weeks of the ceremony.
To escape, Nujood hailed a taxi -- the first time in her life -- to get across town to the central courthouse where she sat on a bench and demanded to see a judge.
After a well-publicized trial, she was granted a divorce.
The Yemeni parliament tried in February to pass a law, setting the minimum marriage age at 17. But the measure has not reached the president because many parliamentarians argued it violates sharia, or Islamic law, which does not stipulate a minimum age.
Monday, September 14, 2009
Yemeni Child Bride Age 12 Dies in Labor
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10 comments:
Revere Rides Again,
In a more moral society, any adult who wanted to marry or have sex with a twelve year old would be branded a pedophile, and as Rob Taylor would say, a "filthy degenerate." Sharia allows child rape. By definition, all practicing pedophiles are rapists, because children are not yet rational enough to consent, and all non consensual sex is rape. Its made even worse by the fact that Fawziya had to die giving birth to the child of the man who raped her, due to poor medical care.
Liberals, especially liberal feminists have to ask themselves if this is something they would be willing to put up with. This is only the tip of the sharia iceberg.
Or should I say comet, because its a dirty snow ball?
The funny thing is that the Yemeni government (in order to improve their image abroad) tried to create a law that defined the legal age of marriage at 17. Many angry lawmakers argued that the law was contrary to Islam and had it thrown out. I guess they are misunderstanders of Islam.
IF it wasn't unbelievable tragic it would be a believable Onion headline.
In how many nations where muslim majorities exist are the wink wink secular 'legislatively' passed laws IGNORED by the govt there from police at the local level thru legislators and right to the executive leader?
There is only ONE LAW accepted where muslim majorities exist.
The people themselves will this.
It's time for some democratic leaders to state the obvious..they would find AGREEMENT from Khameini, Qaradawi and Tantawi
Gee, two child sex slavery posts in a row. . .
ACORN and Yemen.
Hm.
Sharia Law: Sanctioned pedophilia
Sharia Law: Sanctioned Wife Beating
Sharia Law: Sanctioned Abuse of women, children and animals.
It just so happens that there is no minimum age of marriage mentioned in the bible and in biblical times girls as young as 11 to 13 were married to much older men. The thing is that here in the west we believe in SECULARITY so that these inhumane religious traditions are kept at bay by rule of law.The Arabian nations of course are far too backward to introduce a secular legal system with childrens rights.
Anton,
Not only are you correct that in the West we have secularity, rather than cooperation of Church and State, but you might be interested to know that the separation of Church and State was in the Bible:
History of the concept and term
Ancient
In antiquity, religion or spiritual practices helped inform government among many cultures, including China, Greece, Israel, Japan, and Egypt.
Under republican government religious officials were appointed just like political ones. Ancient Israel was different in as much as the King and the priesthood were separate and limited to their respective spheres of authority and responsibility, though interferences did happen as well. Later, under foreign supremacy, the high priest also held the highest civil authority in an autonomous theocracy.
http://www.answers.com/topic/separation-of-church-and-state
Sadly, it is not easy to find information on this, because so many Christians are invested in the idea that the Bible does not support the separation of Church and state.
However, here is a discussion of the issue, including specific references to Biblical verses, and an admission that the Bible does, indeed, support separation of Church and State:
A Divine Oath
(110:4-7)
4 The LORD has sworn and will not change His mind, “Thou art a priest forever According to the order of Melchizedek.” 5 The Lord is at Thy right hand; He will shatter kings in the day of His wrath. 6 He will judge among the nations, He will fill them with corpses, He will shatter the chief men over a broad country. 7 He will drink from the brook by the wayside; Therefore He will lift up His head. (NASB)
In verse 4 Messiah’s dominion is further described as that of a great High Priest who will crush kings and judge nations. Verse 1 began with the announcement of a divine oracle. Verse 4 carries on with the pronouncement of a solemn oath. This verse is the heart of the psalm, a fact which is indicated not only by Yahweh’s oath,214 but also by the significance attached to it by the writer to the Hebrews, who bases chapters 5-7 of his epistle upon the truth revealed here. The oath is doubly solemn, for Yahweh vows that He will not change His mind (v. 1c). (The significance of the oath does not pass by the writer to the Hebrews without notice, cf. Heb. 7:20-22.) Yahweh is not only a king, but a priest-king, after the order of Melchizedek.
Israel was said by God to be a “kingdom of priests” (Ex. 19:6). To a limited extent the king had some functions which might resemble those of the priests (cf. 2 Sam. 6:14, 17, 18; 1 Ki. 8:22ff.), but the Aaronic priesthood was distinct, as can be seen by the consequences for Saul’s presumptuous act of offering the burnt offering in Samuel’s place (1 Sam. 13:8-14). Perhaps the division of kings and priests was an ancient version of “separation of church and state.” The depravity of man is such that too much power cannot be vested in one man. Only in the Messiah would the offices of king and priest be united:
“Then say to him, ‘Thus says the Lord of hosts, “Behold, a man whose name is Branch, for He will branch out from where He is; and He will build the temple of the Lord. Yes, it is He who will build the temple of the Lord, and He who will bear the honor and sit and rule on His throne. Thus, He will be a priest on His throne, and the counsel of peace will be between the two offices”’” (Zech. 6:12-13; cf. Jer. 30:21).
Messiah was to be a priest, but a priest of a new order, a priest “after the order of Melchizedek.”
http://bible.org/seriespage/psalm-110-david’s-lord
Here is another admission, by a Biblical scholar, that the Bible does, indeed, support the separation of Church and State:
Mr. McClellan,
After reading you answer on The Bible's Position on Man Made Laws, I was still perplexed about a question I have, that is the separatin of church and state.
Does this separtion go against God's laws or should Christians follow man's laws on this issue.
Hello Diana,
This is a follow up to the answer I gave you concerning the question about the "seperation of church and state." In Romans, chapter thirteen, the apostle Paul clearly states that it is God who puts governments in place and gives them authority. They are supposed to be voluntarily in subjection to him but, as you know, they often disobey God and do not treat people fairly or with compassion, etc., By reading the Old Testament, especially the books of Kings and Chronicles as well as the book of Daniel, you can see that Paul is just saying what the scriptures have always said.
I don't know the books of Kings and Chronicles well enough to cite the specific verses.
However, I can tell you that, according to the Bible, God separated the Kings and the Prieshood, specifically because He knew that no King could be trusted to be Just enough to rule according to his own rule. The Priests were separate and formed a kind of Greek Chorus in the background, critiquing the Kings judgements and behavior.
In the New Testament, under Roman rule, the Pharisees, who were Priests, were de facto co-rulers along with Herod. But, that was not according to Biblical Law. It was a lawless response to an oppressive society, and an apparently Godless King in Herod.
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