Thursday, August 27, 2009

Child bride turned over to 80-year-old husband

From Arab News:

AL-LAITH: A 10-year-old bride was returned last Sunday to her 80-year-old husband by her father who discovered her at the home of her aunt with whom she has been hiding for around 10 days.

A local newspaper said the husband, who denies he is 80 in spite of claims by the girl’s family, accused the aunt of meddling in his affairs. “My marriage is not against Shariah. It included the elements of acceptance and response by the father of the bride,” he said.

He added that he had been engaged to his wife’s elder sister and that this broke off as she wanted to continue with her education. “In light of this, her father offered his younger daughter. I was allowed to have a look at her according to Shariah and found her acceptable,” he said.

Maatouq Al-Abdullah, a member of the National Society for Human Rights (NSHR), said there is no system in place regulating the marriage of young girls, something that he said results in adverse psychological, health and social effects.

“Such marriages are considered a gross violation of charters on the rights of children, which the Kingdom has signed and which set the age of adulthood at 18,” he added.



Saudi Arabia may have signed the Charter, but they did not change their law. That's why this continues to go on. That's why there is no system in place to regulate the marriage of young girls.

Sharia Law is the law of the land in Saudi Arabia. That's it. There is no other law.

2 comments:

Opus #6 said...

It is pedophilia. Eeew. Poor girl.

Damien said...

Opus #6,

What's even worse is that she is probably going to grow up thinking that its okay for a man to take advantage of her, and that she has no right to defend herself against her abusive husband. Also, even if she somehow doesn't end up thinking that way, she will probably never get to be free, and will live a life of bondage, and enslavement to men.