Unreal, Baby Brides … Saudi Judge Refuses to Annul 8 Year Old Girl’s Arranged Marriage by Father to Settle a Debt

Legalized crimes against woman in Saudi Arabia … Baby Brides.

So women want to complain in America that it’s a man’s world, huh? Try living in Saudi Arabia or pretty much any Islamic country where dogs might have more rights and preferential treatment than woman. Saudi activists have likened child marriages to slavery. Well maybe because it is. In Saudi Arabia … Woman have come a long way baby, NOT!!!

Call it marriage, Islamic style. Saudi marriage officiant Dr. Ahmad al-Mu’bi told Lebanese television viewers last week that it’s permissible for girls as young as 1 to marry — as long as sex is postponed. Guess who decides the appropriate age for sex?

A Saudi judge has refused for the second time to grant an annulment of a marriage between an 8 year old girl and a 47 year old man. Yes, you read that correctly. The judge rejected a petition from the girl’s mother, who was seeking a divorce for her daughter. Can anyone imagine a world where a marriage of an 8 year old is ruled legal?

Think that is bad? It actually gets worse, if possible. The 8 year old girl’s other initial petition to the court has denied on a technicality. Since the mother is separated from the girl’s father and is not the legal guardian, the mom had no standing to represent the 8 year old. Makes some sense until this bit of information. The father, the legal guardian, is the one arranged the marriage to settle a debt with a fried. GOOD GRIEF!!! So what is an 8 year old girl worth? It appears 30,000 riyals or US$8,000.

The marriage contract was part of a loan repayment agreement. The groom agreed to deduct 30,000 riyals ($8,000) from a debt the father owed him in return. The 47-year-old has promised not to consummate the marriage until his bride reaches puberty.

Oh but wait woman’s rights advocated there is a silver lining. The judge ruled that when the 8 year old reaches puberty, she will have the right to request a divorce by filing a petition with the court. UNREAL. In a country that provides so few laws for women, think that the courts will do anything if the 47 year old decides to consummate the marriage early? Define puberty.

The relative said the judge, Sheikh Habib Al-Habib, “stuck by his earlier verdict and insisted that the girl could petition the court for a divorce once she reached puberty.” The family member, who requested anonymity, added that the mother will continue to pursue a divorce for her daughter.

The case, which has drawn criticism from local and international rights groups, came to light in December when al-Habib declined to annul the marriage on a legal technicality. The judge ruled the girl’s mother — who is separated from the girl’s father — was not the girl’s legal guardian and therefore could not represent her in court, according to Abdullah al-Jutaili, the mother’s lawyer.

The girl’s father, according to the attorney, arranged the marriage in order to settle his debts with the man, who is “a close friend” of his. At the time of the initial verdict, the judge required the girl’s husband to sign a pledge that he would not have sex with her until she reaches puberty, al-Jutaili told CNN. The judge ruled that when the girl reaches puberty, she will have the right to request a divorce by filing a petition with the court, the lawyer said.

Human rights be damned, the clerics know best.

The issue of child marriage has been a hot-button topic in the deeply conservative kingdom recently. While rights groups have been petitioning the government to enact laws that would protect children from this type of marriage, the kingdom’s top cleric has said that it’s OK for girls as young as 10 to wed.

“It is incorrect to say that it’s not permitted to marry off girls who are 15 and younger,” Sheikh Abdul Aziz Al-Sheikh, the kingdom’s grand mufti, said in remarks last January quoted in the regional Al-Hayat newspaper. “A girl aged 10 or 12 can be married. Those who think she’s too young are wrong and they are being unfair to her.”

How bad is it for some child brides in Saudi Arabia? A 16 year old Saudi girl drank a bottle of bleach in an attempt to commit suicide to escape a forced marriage to a 75 year old man.