Girl, 8, wins divorce in forced marriage

A YEMENI court has granted a divorce to an eight-year-old girl whose unemployed father forced her into an arranged marriage.

"I am happy that I am divorced now. I will be able to go back to school,'' Nojud Mohammed Ali said, after a public hearing in Sanaa's court of first instance.

Her former husband, 28-year-old Faez Ali Thameur, said he married the child "with her consent and that of her parents'' but that he did not object to her divorce petition.

In response to a question from Judge Mohammed al-Qadhi, he acknowledged that the "marriage was consummated, but I did not beat her".

Yemen, one of the world's poorest countries, has no law governing the minimum age of marriage.

www.news.com.au...

This is like legal pedophilia. Strange law that allows the marriage of someone who is so young. I try my best to respect the cultures of others, but this crosses the line. Question. Were there always a minimum age to marry in most cultures?

uk.youtube.com...

I try to stay away from given an opinion on this cult. But every now and then it still makes my blood boil. Be prepared to be called ignorant, its a word a lot of people who have never studied the Koran, ,Islam or Arabic like to use a lot.They try to justify it by calling it, TIGHTING

reply to post by Master_Wii

I try my best to respect the cultures of others, but this crosses the line.

I agree.

Please hear me out here...

There was a thread the other day about a young female who was starting a career as a prostitute. This was shocking and unacceptable to a lot of people here, but they do not really understand the culture in that part of India. We, as Westerners, do not have the right to impose our cultural values on other societies. From what I gathered about the young prostitute, it was a family tradition, as well as that of the village. I really don't think the young woman had a problem with it at all.

But here I draw the line. This is sick. There is no reason why pre-pubescent children should be exposed to sex by adults. Nor should they be enslaved by an arranged marriage at so young an age.

The marriage was consummated but he did not beat her?! Are you kidding me?!!!

And what happens to this young girl now that she is no longer a virgin?



[edit on 4/19/0808 by jackinthebox]

"In response to a question from Judge Mohammed al-Qadhi, he acknowledged that the "marriage was consummated, but I did not beat her". "

Oh, good. So you took a young girls innocence from her, but you didnt beat her? Good. You get the compassion of the year award.

I'm sorry, I try hard to keep an open mind, but this is disgusting. Theres no excuse for anything like this happening.


Maybe Yemen should look into making a minimum age to get married.

i'm not saying i condone this kind of behavior...BUT...

back in biblical times, this kind of thing was commonplace....older men, with girls, older women with boys, boys and girls...it was all completely normal back then....there was no "minimum age"....granted life expectancy was much less back then than it is now, but still....the only thing that has actually changed is sensibilities, and the advent of political correctness.....

sensibilities say it's not right, and political correctness makes you a bastard for even TRYING to say it might not be as bad as one thinks....

-shrug- like i said, i'm not saying i condone it...i'm just tossing out a historical reminder...

Originally posted by Daedalus
i can see where your coming from but...

back in biblical times, this kind of thing was commonplace

so was Murder, and rape and stoning. So let’s call it what it is. Paedophilia .weather it was 2000 years ago or yesterday a grown man who is sexually attractive to a child is sick.

sensibilities say it's not right,

and so it should

and political correctness makes you a bastard for even TRYING to say it might not be as bad as one thinks....

only if you let it

Originally posted by iammonkey
so was Murder, and rape and stoning. So let’s call it what it is. Paedophilia .weather it was 2000 years ago or yesterday a grown man who is sexually attractive to a child is sick.

Murder and rape are still commonplace almost everywhere, and stoning....i'm pretty sure they only still do that in the middle east....

you probably meant "attracted", but whatever...i see what you're saying....thing of it is, it's only seen as a sickness in the court of modern opinion. back then, nobody thought anything of it. it was considered normal.

Like i said though, i'm not saying i condone the activity, i'm just saying i'm not flipping out over it, and acting as if it's some outrage that things like this still happen...

I personally don't get why, in this day and age, when there are so many attractive, fertile women walking about, that some men would rather have a child -shrug- ...might have something to do with most women being vain, media-zombified superficial morons, more concerned with how much money you have, and how long your penis is, than they are with who you are as a person...sometimes, it feels like our "civilization" is pretty damned uncivilized...

and so it should

In your opinion.

only if you let it

well, it makes you a bastard in other people's opinions, which hurts your ability to participate in debates, or discussions, because you end up with stuff like "hey, don't listen to him, he's a dirty kiddie fiddler" (even if you never implied that you are, people like to jump to conclusions, and paint people with the same long brush if they don't think exactly alike)...anyway, i don't give a crap what people think....i say what's on my mind, and to hell with anyone who doesn't like it....i'm not gonna be stifled, because some uptight little poofer can't handle a little reality. Political correctness is a plague on our nation...it should be done away with. Everyone should speak plainly, or not at all...

[edit on 20-4-2008 by Daedalus]

well, it makes you a bastard in other people's opinions,

so true. but i can live with that.

which hurts your ability to participate in debates, or discussion

Only to people who are ignorant to facts

"hey, don't listen to him, he's a dirty kiddie fiddler" (even if you never implied that you are, people like to jump to conclusions, and paint people with the same long brush if they don't think exactly alike)

not sure i understand where your coming from on this.

i don't give a crap what people think....i say what's on my mind, and to hell with anyone who doesn't like it....i'm not gonna be stifled, because some uptight little poofer can't handle a little reality.

i agree

Political correctness is a plague on our nation...it should be done away with. Everyone should speak plainly, or not at all...

yes p.c is a plague on our nation.i dont buy into it.
but i think people are starting to get sick of it. thank god. i will leave this thread for one reason only i will end up going on a rant about islam and i realy dont want to do that. only because ive been there many times. thanks for your input. all the best.

Girls getting married as young as 13 has been known to be fairly common in the past, but 8, no. There is nothing to respect in a culture that allows this.

reply to post by poet1b


BZZZZZZZZZT! Wrong.

There are countless marriages, both in literary history as well as commonplace throughout society, that were conducted from YOUNGER ages. Many courtships and marriages were arranged at ages as young as five. Some marriages were arranged PRIOR TO BIRTH as agreements between households to join their offspring in matrimony for one reason or another.

The practice of marrying girls is not all that uncommon... it's just repugnant to superior-minded westerners who have fabricated an entire world view of what is right and wrong, and expect the rest of the world to conform and cede their individuality and culture to the morally superior western ideals.

It's all about imposing ones will on foreign countries and individuals, and removing self-determination from others through peer pressure, slander, and hatred.

What appalls me is that people comment on how sickened they are about the girl having sex (Even though she seems nonplussed at the matter, from how she quotes in the article), but don't see the good in that she divorced her husband.

In a muslim country.

reply to post by TheColdDragon


You are correct in that marriage arrangements are often made when a person is very young, even unborn. While I don't necessarily agree with the practice, I don't see anything outright offensive or immoral about it.

My problem comes with the fact that this marriage had been consummated. For an adult to have sex with a pre-pubescent child is sick and twisted, wether they are married or not. And aside from the psychological perspective, there is the likelihood of very real physical injury as well.

It is interesting that this divorce was even granted, but as I asked in an earlier post...

...what happens to this young girl now that she is no longer a virgin?

Originally posted by iammonkey
not sure i understand where your coming from on this.

Well, take this subject for instance....i've seen people (not here, but elsewhere) who use the line of reasoning, that if you don't outright condemn something, then you agree with it, and are behind it. In this example, the assumption would be made by the ignorant person that because i don't outright condemn the things described in the article, that i am behind it, and that i want to have sex with children.....of course it's not true, but like i said, some people like to jump to conclusions.

s'all i meant.

While arranged marriages have been common throughout most societies and cultures, I can't think of any examples outside of Islam were children under the age of 12 had sex with an adult. While marriage as young as 12 has occurred in probably all cultures, I know of no other cultures were adults legally and approvingly have sex with children as young as eight.

The only possible example that I know of is that supposedly, King Solomon had an infatuation with young girls, and had sex with them regularly. The thing about this obsession of Solomon's is that in response, ten tribes of Isreal split away from his kingship and formed a nation of their own, because of his behavior with young girls. This is over two millenium ago.

If you can name these other occurances, were children under the age of ten are expected to have sexual relations with adults, please do so. This would be new to me. I would like to see your examples of where this is common in other cultures around the world, especially cultures where this still goes on today.

As far as your comments about superior minded western culture, I think you will find that western culture is not the only culture that condemns the activities of other cultures that they deem immoral. What sickens most people is that the man was not thrown in jail for having sex with a child far below the age of sexual maturity. What sickens most people, and that includes most other cultures, is that any nation would allow such a marriage where a child far below the age of sexual maturity is expected to have sex with her adult husband.

The above is a response to TheColdDragon.