A Saudi court has refused to annul the marriage of an eight-year-old girl who was married off by her father to a 58-year-old man. The Unayzah court says that it would prefer the girl to remain married to the man until she reaches puberty — a curious solution to child abuse. The girl’s divorced mother has been trying to annul the marriage.
In an outrageous decision, the court ruled that the mother did not have the right to file such an action despite the fact that she is the biological mother of a child and the child is in a clearly harmful position. Instead, the judge wants to wait to see if the girl will want to file after staying married until the age of puberty.
The father insists that he protected his daughter by getting a handshake deal with the man not to consummate the marriage until she is 18. He needed the money that the man was willing to give for his daughter.
This is of course nothing new in the region, here and here and here and here.
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These fookin men are fookin sick! I can only imagine…the only thing that in their f**king heads are sex! What a sin!
Imagine the cry of those poor babies! My blood boils to see this.
Get a f**king woman who is willing to be with these men and not take advantage to these poor little angels (they are f**king babies for god’s sake!!
That judge is a sick old man , so is that 58 yrs idiot who has more money than brains , The Saudi goverment should step in that do something , This is an absolute scandal , shame on this judge , and Saudi people for allowing such marriages to take place .
rafflaw,
I do see Catholic women in rebellion but I’ve seen them really get kicked for it. A progressive order of nuns used to use the feminine name of god, from the bible while conducting their own services. They also celebrated winter solstice with a beautiful relection on the coming of the light with song and dance. Someone ratted them out and the male hierarchy shut them down. It forbade them to do any of these things and completely changed their more open and progressive agenda. It was terrible.
Here’s something that gives me hope. A Catholic church/school near by has a sign outside the church that reads: “Divorce care for children”.
“This is why the Founding Father’s construct of church/state separation is so important and far reaching. In a world of humanity, with a very wide spectrum of cosmic belief, it is the only rational way of organizing governments. Failure to do so leads to governmental abominations such as Saudi Arabia.”
Mike,
I think this is an excellent point and does show how important it is to absolutely keep the bright line between church and state.
Jill @ FFLeo,
I agree with much of what you state re: religion as it pertains to the organizations of religious authority/power. Intellectually and emotionally, however, I do not disbelieve the existence of a creative force in the universe. How that force would manifest itself though, or it’s nature, are presently undeterminable by humanity and so it should not be used as a behavioral guidebook. This leads us to the same answer as atheism, but without the overweening sense of knowledge that I find similar in arrogance to dedicated religionists. This is not directed at you, but at the atheist proselytizers, like Dawkins, Hidgens, etc. We all have to develop our own cosmic view based on our own eyes and ears. I am no more capable of instructing people as to what is the nature of our universe than anyone else. Therefore this leaves me to make up my own mind.
Where the problem arises, as in this article, is when people impose their unprovable beliefs on others. This is why the Founding Father’s construct of church/state separation is so important and far reaching. In a world of humanity, with a very wide spectrum of cosmic belief, it is the only rational way of organizing governments. Failure to do so leads to governmental abominations such as Saudi Arabia.
Jill & Former Fed,
I am not an atheist, but it never ceases to amaze me how religion can be used to justify child abuse. Jill, I think we discussed how many religions abuse women as a regular part of their beliefs. I am still waiting for women to revolt against the Pope and “convince” him that God didn’t make women (or children) second class religious citizens.
FFLEO,
I’m in the same camp, I was just laughing at both of us. And I too am disgusted with cheneybush.