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| Olde Tyme Religion |
| Islamists fight Yemen law banning child marriage |
| 2009-04-17 |
| She was 2 years old when her father promised her in marriage to a man in his 30s. It was a swap, so the father could marry the man's sister without paying the obligatory bride-price. At age 9, the girl was put on a sack of rice to appear taller next to the bridegroom in the wedding picture. At 11, she was taken to her husband's house to live. Despite promising not to consummate the marriage before she reached puberty, he tied her to a bed, stuffed a rag in her mouth and raped her, she says. "One day he tied me up and attacked me," the girl, who is now 13 and has fled her husband, told The Associated Press on Wednesday, choking with tears during an interview at an orphanage that has given her shelter. Her name and her husband's aren't being used to protect her identity. Child marriages are widespread in Yemen, the Arab world's poorest country, where tribal customs dominate society. More than a quarter of its females marry before age 15, according to a recent report by the Social Affairs Ministry. The issue of child brides vaulted into the headlines here two years ago when an 8-year-old boldly went by herself to a courtroom and demanded a judge dissolve her marriage to a man in his 30s. She eventually won a divorce, and legislators began looking at ways to curb the practice. In February, parliament passed a law setting the minimum marriage age at 17. But some lawmakers are trying to kill the measure, calling it un-Islamic. Before it could be ratified by Yemen's president, they forced it to be sent back to parliament's constitutional committee for review. Rest at link |
| Posted by:ed |
| #3 I think Gary Glitter should become a muslim!!!Easy pickings for this kind of pervert in Islam! |
| Posted by: Paul2 2009-04-17 12:39 |
| #2 Barbarians. |
| Posted by: Parabellum 2009-04-17 11:18 |
| #1 Iran can't get those cloned goats on the market fast enough... |
| Posted by: tu3031 2009-04-17 10:40 |