SAN'A, Yemen (AP) - A Yemeni judge dissolved the marriage of an 8-year-old girl to a man nearly four times her age, and the girl's lawyer said Wednesday that the court also ordered the youngster removed from the control of the father who forced her into the wedding.

The lawyer, Shatha Ali Nasser, said the girl is just one of thousands of underaged girls who have been forced into marriages in this poor tribal country at the southern tip of the Arabian Peninsula.

The girl's story has drawn headlines in Yemen because she took the unusual step of seeking out a judge on her own to file for divorce.

She recounted her ordeal to reporters Wednesday, a day after the judge in San'a ended the two-month marriage. Judge Mohammed al-Qady said he had been moved by the girl's plight from the start.

The girl said her father forced her to marry a 30-year-old man she identified as Faiz Ali Thamer. She charged that her husband constantly beat her and forced her to have sex.

"I used to run from room to room to escape from him. But he would catch up with me," the girl said, her tiny frame swallowed in an oversized robe and head scarf, standing with her lawyer.

In issuing his ruling Tuesday, the judge said he was terminating the marriage because the girl "had not reached puberty."

A provision in Yemeni law allows parents to sign marriage contracts for children younger than 15. However, the article states that a husband can only consummate the marriage when the wife reaches puberty.

"We know that this is not what happened" in the girl's case, her lawyer said.

There are no provisions for any punishment for a husband in such cases.

The girl's name isn't disclosed in line with Associated Press policy on sexually related cases.

She said that when she told her parents of the abuse, they refused to help her. Her parents testified they ignored her complaints about the marriage.

The girl's family was ordered to pay $250 as "compensation" to Thamer, although the judge did not specify the reason.


if that girl was here in the states her parents would had been charged, and so would had the guy she was married to....

The same thing has just been discovered in Texas! Oh wait...the girls had to be of child-bearing age before they were thrown into the "marriage beds" in the polygamist compound...so I guess these so-called Americans are more humane.

****ing wrong man those are babies should never have to know what rape is like

damn thats really messed up bad
that young poor girl i hope she
gets out of it soon

That's the first thought that came to my mind.It's different from here - how?

that is SO HORRIBLE

Really frightening stuff happens in so many other countries. If that doesn't make you feel lucky to be born in and privileged to live in the USA then I don't know what would. I know atrocities happen here too, but at least it IS an atrocity here!

this is why I'm becoming a criminal lawyer, TO BUST PERVERTS/BASTARDS LIKE THIS FOOL!!!

i have a 7 yr old... this seriously sickens me to a point that i cannot even comment..

Hey there hikerchick! Great to see you on here
...as Bartles and James used to say "I thank you for your support"

Wow... and they punish the girl's family and the "husband" gets off with nothing. That does sound a lot like our legal system.

It's just that everyone is screaming "OMG - how horrible THOSE people are"..when it goes on here as well. We are just as bad.

In some third world countries the first person to sleep with a young girl is usually the father or some other family member. It is a blessing to be born American!

welcome to ignorance

thats not the only place it happens to bad "we" as "americans" only get mad after it hits the papers

Yeppers....there is an arshole in every race, creed, and nationality. Did you hear the Pope's backtrack on the atrocity of the molesting priests? Yeah I want to worship in that faith...

Do you really believe it happens with the frequency and acceptance it does somewhere else?

I tend to stay away from news of that type. What did he say?

I will keep searching for the actual text as I just heard it on the National News a few minutes ago....he, of course admonsished the behavior and "poor judgement" of the priests involved, but he also threw in the phrase that there are a few who cannot avert the basic needs and desires. How's that for an epitome of a tap dance?

The difference is only a matter of degree.If you are a young girl forced to marry an older man I don't think you care about the frequency and acceptance.

Well, that is why religion just doesn't cut it for me.