Riyadh: A court in Al Qasim region will examine on Monday the case of a 12-year-old girl from Buraidah, who was forcibly married to a man in his eighties. The marriage has stirred a controversy inside and outside the kingdom.
The rights body is trying its best to convince the old man to annul his marriage with the minor.
The girl was married off by her father to the man without her knowledge. The man insisted on getting her married despite stiff opposition from her mother, whom he had divorced earlier.
The incident is another example of several similar cases in which minor girls had been forcibly married to old men.
Marrying off young girls to men the age of their fathers has stirred heated debates in the kingdom amid calls for the state to legalise a marriage age. The Saudi media is playing a vital role in raising awareness of the negative impact of child marriage and is discouraging Saudi parents from getting their daughters married to aged men with an eye on monetary gains.
Dr Abdul Rahman Al Subeihi, a child expert at the National Committee for Childhood, underlined the need for curbing child marriages.
Impact
He called on the Ministry of Justice to enact a law to forbid marriages of girls under the age of 18. "The psychological, physical and emotional impact of such marriages lead several victims to depression and psychic problems, and some of them even commit suicide," he told reporters.
He said most of those who prefer to marry minor girls, are rich old people. "These aged men want to satisfy their sexual desires, and most of the marriages end in failures and divorces," he said.
Gulf News has learnt that the Human Rights Commission has formed a committee to address this issue that put Saudi Arabia on defensive, mainly because of the aggressive onslaught of the world media and human rights organisations. The commission has also established a committee to investigate the marriage.
The husband's agreement to the divorce is the latest twist in the saga since he married the child in Buraidah recently.
Princess Sara Bint Musaid Bin Abdul Aziz Al Saud, a Saudi activist in the field of humanitarian and charity works, said a lawyer has been entrusted to appear for the child in the case.
She urged the Ministry of Justice to frame a law to forbid such marriages.
The girl was married off to the old man last Ramadan for a dowry (mahr) of 85,000 Saudi riyals (Dh83,215).
Have your say
What do you think of this issue? In this day and age are girl child rights a myth? What do you think can be done to stop such incidents from happening? Tell us.
