http://yementimes.com/article.shtml?i=1145&p=front&a=2
8-year-old girl asks for divorce in court
---------------------------------
By: Hamed Thabet
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 ***ual 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 ***ual 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 the 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."
|
