Child bride: Ifthikar, aged eight, had no idea it was her wedding, nor that she was about to get married to her cousin
Taken in: Police jailed the father for six days, but set him free after he promised to wait until the child was of legal age
Armed police swooped in on a wedding in Yemen after it emerged the happy couple was an eight-year-old girl and her own cousin.
The drama took place in the northern province of Ibb after an uncle of child bride Ifthikar contacted local activists who called authorities.
Police arrested the father of the eight-year-old, but released him after six days in jail when he promised to wait until she is of legal age.
Yemeni human rights activists called police after Ifthikar's uncle contacted a journalist at the local newspaper which reported of the wedding between the eight-year-old and her relative.
Police arrived just in time to stop the wedding, and found Ifthikar and her mother locked in a nearby house as the father had fled the scene.
The mother initially opposed the wedding, but gave in when her husband threatened to divorce her, Yasser Abbad, a local journalist and activist told Gulfnews.
'The girl’s uncle was angry when he heard about the marriage, but was unable to stop it. So he contacted us a day before the wedding,' Abdul Yousifi, another local activist said.
'The girl is a primary school student and was unaware that she was getting married.'
The father told police he had given a ‘tribal pledge’ to marry his daughter to his nephew after another man rejected his offer of marriage.
He was jailed for less than a week, but as he is the sole breadwinner, police let him go in order to prevent his family from suffering.
SOURCE-DAILYM
No comments:
Post a Comment