Saudi court rejects divorcing 8-year-old girl

Sunday, 21 December 2008 12:47 PM

A Saudi court has rejected a plea to divorce an eight-year-old girl married off by her father to a man who is 58, saying the case should wait until the girl reaches puberty, a lawyer involved told newswire AFP.

"The judge has dismissed the plea [filed by the mother] because she does not have the right to file such a case, and ordered that the plea should be filed by the girl herself when she reaches puberty," lawyer Abdullah Jtili told AFP in a telephone interview after Saturday's court decision.

The divorce plea was filed in August by the girl's divorced mother with a court at Unayzah, 220 km north of Riyadh just after the marriage contract was signed by the father and the groom.

"She doesn't know yet that she has been married," Jtili said then of the girl who was about to begin her fourth year at primary school.

Relatives who did not wish to be named told AFP that the marriage had not yet been consummated, and that the girl continued to live with her mother. They said that the father had set a verbal condition by which the marriage is not consummated for another 10 years, when the girl turns 18.

The father had agreed to marry off his daughter for an advance dowry of 30,000 riyals ($8,000), as he was apparently facing financial problems, they said.

The father was in court and he remained adamant in favour of the marriage, they added.

Lawyer Jtili said he was going to appeal the verdict at the court of cassation, the supreme court in the ultra-conservative kingdom which applies Islamic sharia law in its courts.

Arranged marriages involving pre-adolescents are occasionally reported in the Arabian Peninsula, including in Saudi Arabia where the strict conservative Wahabi version of Sunni Islam holds sway and polygamy is common.

In Yemen in April, another girl aged eight was granted a divorce after her unemployed father forced her to marry a man of 28.

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Posted by: Amira Monday, 22 December 2008 4:05 PM[UAE] - UAE

I understand that there are laws and moral obligations within Islam, but can I just say that even when this girl reaches 18 and is sexually mature enough to consummate the marriage, is it fair to expect her to do this and plan a life with a man who is 68 years old? This will be too late to consider children and even once he dies she will be left a widow with slim chances of finding real love. It's such a sad case...the last girl of 8 who was married off to a 28 year old was bad enough but this is quite sick.

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Posted by: Yusra Monday, 22 December 2008 12:31 PM[UAE]

This is in response to the Come on Everyday comment. No one is attacking Islam here; I am muslim and proud of it...but what some people around the world have done to manipulate Islam in their favor is shameful. If God wanted us to just follow a bunch of set rules without using our ability to reason, he wouldn't have made us the highest cognitive creatures. Life is not black and white; to the contrary it is mostly shades of gray. A person's intentions are of the uttmost importance in every facet of life and clearly his intentions had nothing to do with his daughter's bset interest. People need to stop blindly following things "just because" and use their God given brains - they were given to us for a reason, and that reason is not jsut being able to get through school. Questioning is an essential part of learining and understanding...try it!

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Posted by: shilu Monday, 22 December 2008 11:47 AM[UAE]

Dear Editor, You have omitted the last paragraph in my comment which was useful for the benefit of readers in understanding the difference between Islam and Tribal customs. There is no offense or insult against any culture. Thank You

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Posted by: Louai Monday, 22 December 2008 9:38 AM[UAE] - United Arab Emirates

Its really a sham to hear such a disgusting method of marriage,it should not be accepted in any circumstances.Is it so simple to sell someone?

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Posted by: Hussain Monday, 22 December 2008 9:04 AM[UAE] - UAE

If 01 such case hits the media, just imagine, how many would be going unreported.

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