8-year-old Saudi girl granted a divorce after international outcryMay 01, 2009 Edition 1
RIYADH: An eight-year-old Saudi Arabian girl who was sold into marriage by her father has been given a divorce after an international outcry, according to Saudi media.
The marriage of the girl to a man reportedly in his 50s was annulled on Wednesday in an out-of-court settlement overseen by a new judge in the city of Onaiza, after the original judge in the case refused to bend to pressure to grant the divorce, newspapers reported.
Riyadh newspapers said the settlement was reached after the intervention in the case by an "important personality".
The girl's father had sold her last year to the man in exchange for a dowry. When her mother found out, she petitioned the court for a divorce for the girl.
The judge twice rejected her case - though he stipulated that the marriage could only be consummated after the girl reached puberty. An appeals court sent the case back to the judge to reconsider, but he again ruled against divorce.
The case garnered strong criticism from international rights groups, and foreign diplomats raised the issue quietly with the Saudi government, according to sources.
United Nations Children's Fund executive director Anne Veneman had said the child's rights were being violated. "Unicef joins many in voicing concern that child marriage contravenes accepted international standards of human rights," she said.
While child marriage is not widespread in Saudi Arabia, the traditional practice has been condoned by some clerics, who say it is supported in Islamic teachings.
Saudi judges have frequently upheld child marriages based on their interpretations of Islamic sharia law.
But last week, at least two committees of the country's legislature, the Shura Council, were discussing a new law that would set the minimum marriage age at 18. - Sapa-AFP
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(Original story taken from here)
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