8 Year Old Divorces 50 Year Old

[Dr. Shane]

Saudi Girl, 8, Divorces 50-Year-Old Husband

An 8-year-old Saudi girl has divorced her middle-aged husband after her father forced her to marry him last year in exchange for about $13,000, her lawyer said Thursday.

Saudi Arabia has come under increasing criticism at home and abroad for permitting child marriages. The United States, a close ally of the conservative Muslim kingdom, has called child marriage a "clear and unacceptable" violation of human rights.

The girl was allowed to divorce the 50-year-old man who she married in August after an out-of-court settlement had been reached in the case, said her lawyer, Abdulla al-Jeteli. The exact date of the divorce was not immediately known.

A court in the central Oneiza region previously rejected a request by the girl's mother for a divorce and ruled that the girl would have to wait until she reached puberty to file a petition then.

There are no laws in Saudi Arabia defining the minimum age for marriage. Though a woman's consent is legally required, some marriage officials don't seek it.

But there has been a push by Saudi human rights groups to define the age of marriage and put an end to the phenomenon...

Saudi Arabia's conservative Muslim clergy have opposed the drive to end child marriages. In January, the kingdom's most senior cleric said it was permissible for 10-year-old girls to marry and those who believe they are too young are doing the girls an injustice.

But some in the government appear to support the movement to set a minimum age for marriage. The kingdom's new justice minister was quoted in mid-April as saying the government was doing a study on underage marriage that would include regulations.

There are no statistics to show how many marriages involving children are performed in Saudi Arabia every year. Activists say the girls are given away in return for hefty marriage gifts or as a result of long-standing custom in which a father promises his infant daughters and sons to cousins out of a belief that marriage will protect them from illicit relationships.

[text taken from link]

[olger]

That's child abuse, sexual abuse, and rape all rolled into one sordid package.

[Gail]

That's child abuse, sexual abuse, and rape all rolled into one sordid package.

Besides being just plain twisted.

[Dr. Shane]

I cannot even grasp what kind of guy would want to be married to a pre-pubescent girl. That is just very twisted. I understand old guys wanting to marry some young post-pubescent teenager. Not that I would want that. I need to be married to an intellectual equal. I think the youngest I could marry is a mature 30 year old (if I wasn't already married).

[carolaa]

I think men in those cultures marry for reasons other than companionship.

[carolaa]

A lot of times the "marriage" is more like a betrothal. The girl doesn't even live with the man until she reaches child bearing age.

[Dottie]

I remember a story some time ago about the same thing. The 8-yr-old wanted to divorce the husband. I don't remember whether she ever got the divorce, except that she was killed in an "honor" killing.

Also, the reason those men marry 8-yr-olds is that they are trying to emulate Mohammed.