Iran moves to legalize marriage for girls under 10 years old

When Saudi Arabia announced three months ago that girls as young as 10-years old would now be allowed to marry, Iran decided to drop the age limit even further.
Iranian Christian news service Mohabat News reports a member of the Iranian Parliament (Majiles) Mohammad Ali Isfenani, "we must regard 9 as being the appropriate age for a girl to have reached puberty and qualified to get married. To do otherwise would be to contradict and challenge Islamic Sharia law."
He argues,"Before the revolution girls under 16 were not allowed to marry. Parents determined to get around the law would often tamper with their daughter's birth certificate. Under the previous constitution, people were legally regarded as adults when they were 18. After the revolution the age at which children were regarded as going through puberty was lowered to 9 for girls and 15 for boys.
Mohabat News reports statistics that show over the past few weeks, over 75 female children under 10 were forced to marry much older men. And in nearly 4000 cases, both the bride and groom were under 14.
The Examiner says according to a news release from the Parliamentary Legal Affairs Committee, the current civil law, drafted before the revolution in the late 1970's regarding the legal age of marriage for girls under the age of ten, is considered "un-Islamic and illegal."
Majiles (Iranian Parliament) is now expected to vote on the proposal to bring civil law more in line with Sharia Law.
The Women's News Network reports that there are more than 10-million girls under the age of 18 married each year around the world, usually without their consent and to much older men.
Baroness Jenny Tonge, chair of a British parliamentary inquiry looking at the issue of child brides, tells the Women's News Network, "We decided to look into child marriage because some two, three years ago we did an investigation into maternal mortality." "We realised that one of the major causes of maternal death is early marriage, and (that) the girls are married so young that their bodies are simply not ready for child birth." She tells the story of one young girl, "she was an eight-year-old who was married to a 45 to 50-year-old in Yemen, arranged by his family – died three days later after the first intercourse from bleeding. When you hear the stories, it just makes you feel quite sick."
A report from the British inquiry is expected early this fall.

http://www.digitaljournal.com/article/329317

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Is this in the tradition of the one who must not be drawn?

 

Yeah, but Mathloon is more concerned about freedom of speech in Western countries. LOL.

 

There is always reason to worry about liberty. But if someone who is actually PART of one of those oppressive governments - Mathloon in the UAE - disingenuously posts about being concerned about freedom of speech in Western societies, then that is just ridiculous.

But congratulations on trying to play the white knight once again.

 

"Pretty much fake"?

http://www.ibtimes.com/child-bride-...seeks-lower-girls-legal-marriage-age-9-760263

Hundreds of girls below the age of 10 each year are forced into marriage in Iran every year -- and the trend is experiencing a dramatic increase.
According to recent data released by Iran's Association of Children's Rights, the number of girls married in Iran under the age of 15 went from 33,383 in 2006 to 43,459 in 2009, a 30 percent increase in three years.

In addition, while 449 girls were married in 2009 before reaching the age of 10, as many as 716 girls were married under the age of 10 in 2010, a 59 percent spike in one year.

These alarming figures were accompanied by an official statement from the Iranian parliament's legal affairs committee that the Islamic Republic will push to lower the legal marriage for girls to 9 (before they even reach puberty) from the current 13.

The legal affairs committee of parliament told the press that they regard the law that prohibits girls below the age of 10 from being married off to be "un-Islamic and illegal," referencing Islamic scripture to which describes the Prophet Muhammad -- the perfect example of all Muslims -- marrying a six-year-old bride, with whom he consummated the marriage when she was only nine years old.

Mohammad Ali Isfenani, the chairman for the legal affairs committee, said matter-of-factly: "As some people may not comply with our current Islamic legal system, we must regard 9 as being the appropriate age for a girl to have reached puberty and qualified to get married. To do otherwise would be to contradict and challenge Islamic Sharia law."

As of right now, according to a 2002 ruling by the powerful Expediency Council ruling, girls below 13 and boys younger than 15 can only wed with their father's consent and the permission of a court.

But with the Iranian parliament pushing to lower brides' legal age, this minimal protection for girls between age 9 to 13 will also be stripped away.

More importantly, as there is no protection for the age of consent within marriage, these young girls have no means and rights to protect themselves against unwanted sex or pregnancy -- leaving some of them to die of painful childbirth when they are as young as 14.

These young brides rarely continue their education, and consequently have no choice but to completely depend upon their husbands' earnings. The life expectancy of these girls is cut exceedingly short, given the high mortality rate from childbirth injuries. Girls younger than 15 years old are five times more likely to die in childbirth.

Some of these girls are married off to settle debts, as deepening poverty within Iran leaves families with a large number of children with very few options. It is known that the younger, the higher the price of a child bride.

Moreover, should this worrying trend continue, child protection experts to warn of a surge in mental illness, suicides, teenage runaways and girls turning to prostitution as such nuptials frequently end in divorce.

Farshid Yazdani, the spokesman for the Iran's Association of Children's Rights, said that child marriages are more common in socially backward rural areas often afflicted with high levels of illiteracy and drug addiction.

"Financial poverty of the families leads to children's marriages. However, cultural poverty and ignorance is also an element," Yazdani said.

However, Iran is not the only one with this phenomenon. Ethiopia, Bangladesh, India, Afghanistan, Niger are among the many countries that do not have adequate protection for girls to grow up without being forced into marriage.

According to the International Center for Research on Women, if present trends continue, more than 100 million girls in the developing world below the age of 18 will be married off over the next 10 years - that is, 25,000 girls married every day for the next 10 years.

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Nothing fake about it. Do your research, kid.

 

Nope, and I never said that. Why don't you go back to making dumb jokes about people's moms, or demanding death for all people who have more money than you (which seems to be pretty much everyone).

 

And little Air Langhi - if you need more sources:

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/wor...children-under-age-of-10-married-in-Iran.html

Here is one that is actually from the UAE:

http://www.thenational.ae/news/world/marry-at-16-iranian-president-urges-girls

As I said, next time, do your research, kid, before you try to argue with an intellectual superior.

 

Which means that the 500 girls mentioned in the article who got married at age 9 are now 10.

And probably another 500 or 1,000 girls were married at age 9.

Your point?

Oops - you have none.

 

You don't care because it is not happening in your own backyard? Is that your point?

Why not point out horrible things like that in a debate and discussion forum?

Why did you not ask Mathloom what his point was for posting something about being concerned about freedom of speech in Western societies (LOL)?

Right.

And the reason why I posted it now is because someone in my Facebook newsfeed posted it. It's true though that there is an older thread about this already, which I didn't remember. My bad.

 

Why do you keep asking questions, but fail to answer any?

 

Are you saying that the Daily Telegraph is not a reputable news source?