Hege Storhaug, HRS
Hva som får en far til å selge datteren til sin 80 år gamle fetter for 23 000 dollar, og hva som får denne 80-åringen til begå en slik pervers handling, skal jeg la ligge. Det interessante er at jenta har fått annullert ekteskapet etter at en statlig drevet Menneskerettighetskommisjon grep fatt i saken. Kommisjonen mener den offentlige stemningen er for en lovendring som hever ekteskapsalderen. Også en fremtredende geistlig støtter at ekteskapsalderen ikke skal følge Muhammeds eksempel, og ga således klar melding om at ni år gamle jenter i dagens verden ikke er modne for ekteskap, melder Nine News.
The girl, who has not been named, was married to her father’s cousin last year in her home town of Buraidah, near Riyadh, Saudi’s capital, the Times of London reports.
Her father was paid a $23,000 dowry.
But the girl reached an agreement with her family earlier this week to privately annul the marriage.
The marriage caught the attention of the state-run Human Rights Commission, who provided a lawyer for the girl and pushed for the legal age of marriage to be raised to 16.
«There will be some opposition, of course, but we feel that public opinion has changed on this issue,» lawyer Alanoud al-Hejailan was quoted as saying.
Many have weighed into the debate with some judges using the Prophet Muhammed’s marriage to a nine-year-old as justification for child brides.
Senior Saudi cleric Sheikh Abdullah al-Manie slammed the comparison, saying the Prophet’s marriage occurred centuries ago and could not be used to justify marriages today.
Dersom ekteskapsalderen for jenter i Saudi-Arabia økes til 16 år, vil dette ha en positiv effekt verden over, da knapt noen annen ideologi enn den saudiske promoteres på ulike kontinent gjennom astronomisk summer.