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Sunday, August 24, 2008

Eight-year-old wife puts Saudi laws in spotlight

Eight-year-old wife puts Saudi laws in spotlight

Published Date: 25 August 2008
By MICHAEL THEODOULOU
A COURT in Saudi Arabia preparing to hear a plea for divorce from an eight-year-old girl should have little difficulty in determining grounds for incompatibility: the husband is half a century older.

The child was married off by her father without her knowledge, the Saudi newspaper al-Watan said yesterday. The girl's mother is understood to be pushing for the marriage to be annulled, although her father opposes the move.

The case is among a recent spate of marriages involving very young girls reported by the Saudi media where there is strong criticism of the practice.

"In my opinion, old men who want to marry girls at the age of their granddaughters are mentally sick and need psychological treatment," Nourah al-Khereiji, a columnist in the English language daily, Arab News, wrote at the weekend.
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