SANA’A, April 9 - An eight-year-old girl decided last week to go the Sana’a West Court to prosecute her father, who forced her to marry a 30-year-old man. Posted on 04/11/2008 10:07:28 AM PDT by LibWhacker
Nojoud Muhammed Nasser YT Photo by Hamed Thabet SANA’A, April 9 - An eight-year-old girl decided last week to go the Sana’a West Court to prosecute her father, who forced her to marry a 30-year-old man.
Nojoud Muhammed Nasser arrived at court by herself on Wednesday, April 2, looking for a judge to handle her case against her father, Muhammed Nasser, who forced her two months ago to marry Faez Ali Thamer, a man 22 years her senior. The child also asked for a divorce, accusing her husband of sexual and domestic abuse.
According to Yemeni law, Nojoud cannot prosecute, as she is underage. However, court judge Muhammed Al-Qathi heard her complaint and subsequently ordered the arrests of both her father and husband.
“My father beat me and told me that I must marry this man, and if I did not, I would be raped and no law and no sheikh in this country would help me. I refused but I couldn’t stop the marriage,” Nojoud Nasser told the Yemen Times. “I asked and begged my mother, father, and aunt to help me to get divorced. They answered, ‘We can do nothing. If you want you can go to court by yourself.’ So this is what I have done,” she said.
Nasser said that she was exposed to sexual abuse and domestic violence by her husband. “He used to do bad things to me, and I had no idea as to what a marriage is. I would run from one room to another in order to escape, but in the end he would catch me and beat me and then continued to do what he wanted. I cried so much but no one listened to me. One day I ran away from him and came to the court and talked to them.”
“Whenever I wanted to play in the yard he beat me and asked me to go to the bedroom with him. This lasted for two months," added Nasser. "He was too tough with me, and whenever I asked him for mercy, he beat me and slapped me and then used me. I just want to have a respectful life and divorce him.”
Nasser’s uncle, who does not want to reveal his name, is following the case now as her guardian. According to her uncle, after Muhammed Nasser, the girl's father, lost his job as a garbage truck driver in Hajjah, he became a beggar, and soon after suffered from mental problems.
Thamer is in jail now. “Yes I was intimate with her, but I have done nothing wrong, as she is my wife and I have the right and no one can stop me," he said. "But if t The husband YT Photo by Hamed Thabet he judge or other people insist that I divorce her, I will do it, it’s ok.”
So far, no accusations have been made against her father, who was later released due to health problems, or Nasser's husband, who will remain in jail for further investigation.
“So far there is no case and no charges, as Nojoud arrived by herself to court asking just for a divorce,“ said Shatha Ali Nasser, a lawyer in the Supreme Court who is following Nojoud Nasser’s story.
Shatha Ali Nasser confirmed that item number 15 in Yemeni civil law reads that “no girl or boy can get married before the age of 15." However, this item was amended in 1998 so parents could make a contract of marriage between their children even if they are under the age of 15. But the husband cannot be intimate with her until she is ready or mature,” said Nasser.“This law is highly dangerous because it brings an end to a young girl’s happiness and future fruitful life. Nojoud did not get married, but she was raped by a 30-year old man.”
Nasser confirmed that Nojoud Nasser’s case is not the first of its kind in Yemen, but it is the first time that a girl went to court by herself to ask for a divorce.
“We are not planning to return Nojoud to her family. Who knows? Maybe after a few years the same thing will happen to her again," said Shatha Ali Nasser. "We are planning to put her in Dar Al-Rahama [an non-governmental organization that works with children], where she can have a better life and education. We do not want her family to pay her expenses, as they are poor.”
Yes, that’s what we are told. This child’s experience is unique. I have said a silent prayer for the rest who are bewildered and alone without recourse. They don’t even know God is there to protect them. They were never taught of his love. It’s just the way things are. Gray and bleak, grateful for any respite, much less kindness. It is then that I realize how silly we are, how lucky most of us have been (though it seems there were fewer like me than I ever thought possible). How blessed I was in parents, in birth place, in opportunities, in medical advances. I have truly been (even with all the bad times) the luckiest of women.
Ishaq:281 "When the Apostle came to Medina he was fifty-three." [ This means he was 50 when he married her, taking Tabariv11:7 into account]
Tabari IX:128 "When the Prophet married Aisha she very young and not yet ready for consummation." [6 year old babies still nursing never are]
Bukhari:V9B87N139-40 "Allah's Apostle told Aisha, 'You were shown to me twice in my dreams [a.k.a. a pedophiles sexual fantasies]. I beheld a man or angel {how about Satan?] carrying you in a silken cloth. He said to me, "She is yours, so uncover her." And behold, it was you. I would then say to myself, "If this is from Allah [Satan], then it must happen."'"
The clincher:
Tabari IX:131 "My mother came to me while I was being swung on a swing between two branches and got me down. My[wet] nurse wiped my face with some water and started leading me. When I was at the door she stopped so I could catch my breath. [A nine year old wouldn't be out of breath from being lead by a woman nursing her] I was then brought in while the Messenger was sitting on a bed in our house. My mother made me sit on his lap. Then the men and women got up and left. The Prophet consummated his marriage with me in my house when I was nine six years old."
The lying pen of the Scribe is obvious. Her parents house was always in Mecca. Her parents never moved to medina with them 3 years later.
We must have open dialog and seek to understand these people. Their culture and religion is just as good as any western culture and religion we have. I am about to gag here.
She died a few days later. I cannot recall if she ever received any medical treatment after that atrocity.
To their credit , the fellow villagers of the thing were outraged, and they went in a body to see the village imam. He stated that the husband could not be prosecuted because his actions were within islamic marriage guidelines.
I do not know if a higher authority intervened.
I read this one morning in the Omaha Public library, main branch. It upset me so much I had to go to the restroom and lock myself in a stall till I regained composure-and after all these years, my eyes are stinging and my throat swelling, thinking about that child.
At least this story isn't *quite* so grim.:-(
Some people say that with all seriousness. Not some, a lot, including our brainless politicians.
RELIGION OF PEACE at it again.
I served during the Muslim uprizing in east Timor, 1980.
Recalling some of the horrible things these animals did to young Christian girls, and even older woman as they were forced to convert to Islam still gives me nightmares.Men accused of being priest were decapitated and hung by their feet in the streets. That’s where I first bean to learn what Islam really was. Before that I thought it was just some silly religion like Buddhism.
This is what the little girls were feeling when the pedophile Mohammed the Prophet raped them back in the 7th century.
“How dreadful are the curses which Mohammedanism lays on its votaries! Besides the fanatical frenzy, which is as dangerous in a man as hydrophobia in a dog, there is this fearful fatalistic apathy.
The effects are apparent in many countries. Improvident habits, slovenly systems of agriculture, sluggish methods of commerce, and insecurity of property exist wherever the followers of the Prophet rule or live.
A degraded sensualism deprives this life of its grace and refinement; the next of its dignity and sanctity. The fact that in Mohammedan law every woman must belong to some man as his absolute property, either as a child, a wife, or a concubine, must delay the final extinction of slavery until the faith of Islam has ceased to be a great power among men.
Individual Moslems may show splendid qualities, but the infence of the religion paralyzes the social development of those who follow it.
No stronger retrograde force exists in the world. Far from being moribund, Mohammedanism is a militant and proselytizing faith.
It has already spread throughout Central Africa, raising fearless warriors at every step; and were it not that Christianity is sheltered in the strong arms of science, the science against which it had vainly struggled, the civilization of modern Europe might fall, as fell the civilization of ancient Rome.”
Sir Winston Churchill (The River War, first edition, Vol. II, pages 248-50, London: Longmans, Green & Co., 1899).
Next she’ll be the victim of an honor killing.
Savage. Sick pig, nothing more.
I ask myself, What can we do to help these little girls? To help the women trapped in “islam?”
Then, I go out here in the U.S.A, and I see women in OUR streets dressed in full muslim cover-up. I see young girls wearing the hijab, the head scarf. This has always startled me. Why choose to be chattel, and have your daughters be chattel, when this is the free-est nation on earth for women?
It is one thing to see another country in the dark ages, but to see it brought here and existing as a parallel culture is very disturbing.
This little girl’s primary identity is that of victor, not victim. She deserves to be famous for what she did. And I hope her pretty, victorious face is gracing newspapers all over the Arab world, putting ideas into the heads of other young women who don’t have quite as much bravery or initiative.
(warning in advance)
As you know the practice goes on in today’s Iran too, under Islamic government and sharia laws. But, the legal age in IRI is 9, not 8 - not that it makes any difference. Basically, when the girl starts her menstrual cycle, she is seen as ready for marriage and sexual activity. In hot climate countries, many girls start their period as young as 7 years of age. Of course, these idiots do not take into account the emotional or psychological development of a child.
The legal age for marriage used to be 18 under Pahlavi Dynasty in Iran.
You may also know that poor families practice this sort of thing much more often. The reason (logic from their perspective) being that they basically want the girl “financially” taken care of by another family (i.e. husband). This logic also applies to “dowry” which is practiced in many ME and north African countries. The future husband and/or his family must agree to provide the bride’s family with certain amount of money before marriage takes place. The amount of money (dowry) essentially determines the value of the bride. Financial consideration comes first and foremost in ME marriages, but mainly for poorer families; they want to get rid of one more mouth to feed asap. Centuries ago, bedouin Arabs (prior to Islam) buried their female infants alive, because they saw very little use for females.
Thanks!
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