Bob CollinsA court in Yemen has annulled the marriage of an 8 year old girl to a 20-something man after she filed for divorce.
Says the BBC:
The girl told the court she had signed the marriage contract two-and-a-half months ago on the understanding she would stay in her parents’ house until she was 18.
“But a week after signing, my mother and father forced me to go and live with him.”
Her former husband, Faez Ali Thameur, told the court the marriage was consummated, but he denied Nojoud’s claims that he beat her. It is understood that one person attending the hearing has decided to repay Faez the dowry he gave the Nojoud’s father before marriage.
Her father, Mohammad Ali Al-Ahdal told the court he felt obliged to marry off his daughter after receiving repeated threats from the would-be husband and his entourage.
He said was frightened because his oldest daughter had been kidnapped several years earlier and had been forced to marry her abductor.
Weird? Possibly. But who are we to judge what’s weird and what’s not in matters of Mr. or Mrs. Right?
