Saudi court lets bride, 12, divorce 80-yr-old hubbyDUBAI: In what could become a prelude to introduction of a minimum age for marriage in Saudi Arabia, a
12-year-old girl has won a divorce from her
80-year-old husband.
According to local reports,
the girl was married to her father’s cousin last year against her wishes and those of her mother.
The marriage was sealed with a dowry of 85,000 riyals and consummated.The 12-year-old, with the help of Saudi government’s legal assistance, fought her case in a court in Buraidah, near Riyadh. The unusual legal challenge had generated international media attention and scrutiny of Saudi Arabia’s record of child marriages, and prompted the state-run Human Rights Commission to appoint a lawyer to represent her.
Based on the ruling, the commission has assembled three committees to examine the possibility of pushing for a legal minimum age for marriage of at least 16.
“The main aim is to not allow cases like this to happen again,” Alanoud alHejailan, a lawyer for the commission, said. “We feel that public opinion has changed on this issue. We want to gather all the public support we can for a minimum marriage age,” he added.
The case had sparked debate in Saudi Arabia, with some judges and
clerics using Prophet Muhammad’s marriage to a nine-year-old girl as justification of child marriage.
However, in January Sheikh Abdullah al-Manie, a senior Saudi cleric, spoke out in defence of the girl, declaring that the Prophet’s marriage 14 centuries ago could not be used to justify child marriages today.
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