updated
April 10, 2010
Fellow Yemenis Reem Al Numery, Nujood Ali speak out
*AP reports her age as 13, not 12.
Child marriages aka sanctioned pedophilia continue unabated in the Muslims world and yet another once-innocent girl needlessly died because of it. Yemen again. Where the miminum age for marriage has still not been made punishable by law.
ELHAM MAHDI, 12 13, was married on March 29th to a man “in his 20s” and bled to death 3 days later.
All the detail I could find. Details of murder
Yemeni human rights group, Sisters Arab Forum for Human Rights Chairwoman AMAL BASHA said:
A medical report by the hospital where she was treated said she had suffered a tear to her genitals and severe bleeding after intercourse.
Where was the tear?
In her anus, vagina, cervix, uterus?
And after how much “intercourse”?
Was she scarred from previous genital mutilation?
Did he use a foreign object to rape her?
Facts that may never be known to the world. Just like the names of all the other young girls sold to pedophiles in the name of religion.
UNICEF’S Regional Director for the Middle East and North Africa SIGRID KAAG “dismayed by the death of yet another child bride in Yemen”:
The death of Elham Mahdi Al Assi from internal bleeding following intercourse, three days after she was married off to a man at least twice her age, is a painful reminder of the risks girls face when they are married too soon.
UNNAMED YEMENI GOVT OFFICIAL called the case “a stark reminder that the practice of underage marriage must come to an end.”
The government has been working tirelessly to cement the minimum marriage age but conservative parliamentarians have stood against it. Members of the conservative block need to step up to the responsibility of protecting the rights and freedoms of the young. NGOs must continue campaigning to shed the light on this unfortunate practice.
“Unfortunate practice”?
It’s sanctioned pedophilia and nothing more.
YEMEN
- Poorest Muslim country
- Population growing 3% year
- And an estimated 30-40% of the country’s fresh water supply goes towards irrigating Qat field with production increasing approx 10% to 15% every year.
- Only 34% of women are literate
- 1 in 3 married before age 18
- Highest maternal mortality ratio of the Middle East and North African region with 430 deaths per 100,000 live births.
