Child marriages
An 11 year old boy to marry 10 year old girl in Saudi Arabia? At least the girl is not an infant.
RIYADH, Saudi Arabia (AP) — An 11-year-old boy gave out invitations to his classmates for a big event his family was planning this summer — and it wasn't his birthday party.It was his wedding to a 10-year-old cousin.
Muhammad al-Rashidi's marriage was eventually put on hold, his father said, after pressure from the governor of the northern province of Hail, who considered the elementary school student too young to marry.
The case is among a recent spate of marriages involving the very young reported in the media and by Saudi human rights groups. They have been widely denounced by activists, clerics and others who say such unions are harmful to the children and trivialize the institution of marriage. [snip]
"These marriages violate international agreements the kingdom has signed."
Al-Harithi's group recently succeeded in delaying the consummation of the marriage of a 10-year-old girl after getting reports from medical centers in Hail that she and a man in his 60s had showed up for the mandatory prenuptial medical tests.
He said the commission wrote to the province's governor and head of Islamic courts urging them to stop the marriage.
But there are other marriages involving children that have gone ahead.
One involved a 15-year-old girl whose father, Muhammad Ali al-Zahrani, a death-row inmate, married her off to a cell mate who also was sentenced to death. The father's sentence was carried out July 21, when he was beheaded for killing another man.
Pictures of the wedding, held in the prison in Taif for the men, appeared in several newspapers. Media reports said inmates recited poems and delivered speeches in the presence of prison officials. The teenage bride and other women, as is the custom here, held a separate reception outside the jail.
The groom, Awad al-Harbi, and his bride were allowed to spend two nights together in a special prison quarters after the wedding, according to Al-Watan. Al-Harbi told another newspaper, Al-Madina, recently that his wife was pregnant.
From Monkey in the Middle:
Dry Bones, one of Israel's best political cartoons has been a favorite of mine since the 1970's.
This was yesterday's strip.
And from the blog,... (continue reading at Monkey in the Middle or Dry Bones)
Other reading:
US revokes Palestinian scholarship students' visas, Reuters
MIT Trained Pakistani Scientist With Accused al Qaeda Ties, In Custody, Boston.com
FBI Seizes Local Maryland Library Computers, National Terror Alert
Spanish Police Discover al Qaeda Internet Instruction Guide ‘Handbook’
Is Obama Accepting donations from Palestinian brothers living in the Gaza strip?, Stop the ACLU,
Why Can’t We Vote on Drilling Pelosi?, Stop the ACLU,
Obama - Yes we can (buy votes with other people’s money, Thinkin' bout stuff
![](http://<img src="http://righttruth.typepad.com/cancersucks2.jpg" />){kind=link}
It'd never make the headlines, the MSM are too busy carrying obambi to the whitehouse. What a screwed up culture. On the plus side at least someone in their country is trying to stop these things.
Posted by: MK | August 06, 2008 at 06:42 AM
The truth is this doesn't make the headlines... And it should make them!
Posted by: BFFW | August 06, 2008 at 03:10 AM
A megalomanic pedophile has a satanic wet dream, writes it down, and the Arabs make it their religion. Just what we should expect.
Posted by: David | August 06, 2008 at 02:20 AM
Hear any libs against this..um..nope!
Posted by: Angel | August 05, 2008 at 06:08 PM
Child engagements aren't new. They were used in Europe up until the 1900's amongst royal families. Engagements can and often are broken. Marriages are a different thing.
Children should remain children for a long time. A little girl should dream of one day marrying, not be forced into one at 6, 7, 8,9 or 10. Child marriages are often between adult men and little girls. There is only one purpose to this "marriage": Legal Pedophilia.
It must be stopped!
Posted by: Findalis | August 05, 2008 at 03:55 PM