Photo Courtesy: children.foreignpolicyblogs.com
It was not shocking news. It happens in some parts of the world. But, a verdict by a court in Saudi Arabia was shocking. The court turned down a plea to divorce an 8 yea-old girl married off by her father to a man, who is 58. The court argued that the case should wait until the girl reaches puberty. In August, the girl's divorced mother filed the divorce plea with a court at Unayzah, near Riyadh. Lawyer Abdullar Jtili pointed out that the judge rejected the plea saying that the girl did not have the right to file such a case. The father had agreed to marry off his daughter for an advance dowry of GBP 5,000 due to certain financial problems.
