The Eight-Year-Old Divorcee — Husband of Child Bride in Saudi Arabia Accepts a Settlement and Grants Divorce to Child Sold to Him by Father

Its official. Saudi Arabia has its newest eight-year-old divorcee, but not due to any problem in Saudi Arabia with a man over 50 marrying an eight-year-old child. The girl’s lawyer reached an out-of-court settlement with the man who finally agreed to the divorce. A Saudi court twice rejected the mother’s effort to get a divorce for her daughter after the father effectively sold her to the older man as a bride for cash.

The government recently decided that, while not prohibiting child brides, it would “regulate” the practice. In the meantime, Saudi religious leaders supported such marriages and consummation of the marriage as early as nine years old — a criminal act of pedophilia in the West. This is a practice that has long been a controversy inside and outside of the Islamic world. Mohammad is often accused by critics of being a pedophile due to his marriage to 6-year-old Aisha, which was consummated when she was 9.

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