Bride Aged 8, Dies After Wedding Night with Man, 40. Updated

flangemanager · #1 ● 09-09-2013, 10:23 AM

Bride Aged 8 Dies After Suffering Internal Sexual Injuries During Wedding Night With Man, 40

"An eight-year-old Yemeni girl has died of internal sexual injuries after spending her wedding night with a husband five times her age.

The girl, identified as Rawan, is believed to have suffered a tear to her genitals and heavy bleeding, Kuwaiti daily newspaper Al Watan reported.

Kuwaitis have called for action against the man, who is 40, as well as the girl’s family for allowing the marriage."

http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/2013...6pLid%3D207279

Additional info -

Updated: 09/09/2013 17:31 BST

The girl died in a northwestern town in Yemen (file picture) An eight-year-old Yemeni girl has died of internal sexual injuries after spending her wedding night with a husband five times her age.

The girl, identified as Rawan, is believed to have suffered tearing of her genitals and a uterine rupture, Kuwaiti daily newspaper Al Watan reports.

It says Kuwaiti activists have called for action against the man, who is 40, as well as the girl’s family for allowing the marriage.

The girl died in the tribal area of Hardh in northwestern Yemen, which borders Saudi Arabia.

Gulf News quotes blogger Angry Man as posting the husband is, “an animal who deserved to be punished severely for his crime.”

“All those who supported such a crime should also be punished,” he added.

Al Bawaba reports over a quarter of young girls in Yemen are married before the age of 15.

It points the country passed a law in February, 2009, setting the minimum age of marriage at 17, but that it was repealed after conservative lawmakers declared it, “un-Islamic”.

In 2010, a 13-year-old Yemeni girl who was forced into an arranged marriage, died five days after her wedding when she suffered an internal rupture, a local human rights organisation declared.

Ilham Mahdi al Assi died in Yemen's Hajja province, the Shaqaeq Arab Forum for Human Rights told the AFP in a statement quoting a medical report.

According to a World Vision study released in March, more child brides are being led into arranged marriages due to an increase in global poverty and crises.

Parents who live in fear of natural disasters, political instability and financial ruin look to arranged marriages as a way to save their struggling families.

Every day, 39,000 girls younger than 18 will marry, according to the World Health Organization.

**Yemen is Denying the Incident, although it's not the first case**

September 10 2013 | Last updated 1 minute ago

Gulf | Yemen

Wedding night death of girl, 8, denied in Yemen

Journalist who broke story insists reports of child bride's death are true

Saeed Al Batati, Correspondent
Published: 16:56 September 9, 2013

Local security officials and journalists in Yemen’s northern province of Hajja have strongly denied media reports about the death of an eight-year-old girl shortly after her wedding. But the journalist who wrote the controversial story insisted that his story was correct and based on the accounts of the girl’s neighbours.

Local media recently ran a story about an eight-year old girl who died after suffering heavy bleeding and a tear in her genitals after sleeping with her middle-aged husband. The story went viral on the internet, causing outrage in the region, with people taking to blogs and social networks to condemn the alleged incident.

The journalist who wrote the story that sparked the outrage however stood by his account and insisted that his story is true.

Mohammad Radman, a freelance journalist from the province, commented on the officials’ denial by saying that the girl’s neighbours told him the girl was dead and buried.

“They are willing to give their testimony on this issue. I think the officials are trying to bury the story.” he said.

Mosleh Al Azzani, the director of Criminal Investigation in Harradh district where the marriage was thought to have taken place, told Gulf News via telephone that he personally sent for the girl and her father to question them about the incident. The girl’s name is Rawan.

Pushing Boundaries for Women

“When I heard the rumours, I called the girl’s father. He came with his daughter and denied the marriage and death of his daughter. I have the photos of the girl and will show it to anyone.”

The official said that the girl was eight years old and her father was in his late 40s.

“The man moved to Haradh 20 days ago. He is a father of Rawan, another married daughter and a son. I am ready to call them again if any journalist wants to investigate this issue.” he said, adding that he did not receive any information from the local hospital about the death of the girl.

Also in Hajja, Aziz Saleh, a journalist who runs a local website, said that he contacted the local authority’s office who denied the news.

“All of them maintained that neither the marriage nor death had taken place,” he said

In the capital, Ahmad Al Qurishi, the head of SEYAJ Organisation for Childhood Protection, an independent NGO that advocates children’s rights, told Gulf News that government and judicial officials in the province of Hajja denied the information about the marriage and death.

“I got in touch with the director of Criminal Investigation, Hajja’s prosecutor and the province’s security chief who all flatly denied the story,” he said.

Al Qurishi said that his organisation conducted its own investigation into the issue by sending some activists to the area.” The preliminary results show that the story was untrue.”

Al Qurishi accused some people of using the controversial issue of underage marriage in Yemen “for their own interests”.

“Some people create these stories to get publicity and attention and aid from international organisations,” he said.

calisphere · #2 ● 09-09-2013, 10:28 AM

Wow. Who the hell allows their eight year old to get married? Both the family and the man need to be held responsible. And what the heck do you have to do in order to cause internal bleeding while having sex? From experience, I know that not all eight year olds die having sex (I was molested from ages 6-13, so I know).