15-year-old Saudi girl granted divorce from 86-year-old man

[Playinghardball]

A 15-year-old Saudi girl who was forced to marry an octogenarian has been granted a divorce after a local human rights group intervened, the watchdog said on Wednesday.

The Saudi Human Rights Commission (SHRC) raised the case “after learning of the marriage of a minor girl to an 86-year-old man in Jizan” in southeast Saudi Arabia, the group’s head Bandar al-Ayban said in a statement.

Al-Hayat daily had reported that the teenager locked herself inside the bedroom on her wedding night before fleeing the man’s home and returning to her parents.

She had been married off to the man in exchange for a dowry worth around $17,300, the daily reported.

The SHRC had provided “legal assistance to the girl” so she could get a divorce, Ayban said.

http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2013/01/09/15-year-old-saudi-girl-granted-divorce-from-86-year-old-man/

[TwilightGardener]

1. Her parents sold her. Poor girl.

[Arkansas Granny]

6. That is exactly what they did.

I'm glad she was able to escape.

[LittleBlue]

2. What is the point of an 86-year-old marrying a 15-year-old?

Even if by some miracle he can still get it up, and get her pregnant, he will never live to see his children and widow her.

This doesn't make sense even if you accept the other religious mumbo jumbo.

[MADem]

4. Viagra. Plus, these geezers think that youth will "rub off" on them.

They don't care about who they might leave behind--after all, they'll be in Paradise, so they believe.

This isn't the "good place"--life here on earth--this is the waiting room and the "good place" is the place with the virgins and milk and honey and so forth.

It is a very different mindset, and it is very deeply ingrained. Plus, the culture doesn't look down on this kind of shit, when it should.

[WinkyDink]

7. Slavery.

[kestrel91316]

8. AND once she is widowed she is treated as worse than useless and

forever unable to remarry. She can only hope she has a son who can provide for her.

SHAMEFUL. I am so very accepting of so many different cultural practices, but this is beyond the pale.

[Enrique]

3. i think it's fascinating that there is a Saudi Human Rights Commission

god bless them, they have their work cut out for them.

[lapislzi]

9. You? Again?

Are you SURE you're posting in the right forum?

[Rex]

10. IKR?

The United Nations is most definitely NOT a joke!

[FSogol]

11. The UN is awesome. The Republican party is the joke.

[pecwae]

12. Saw a similar story

in a Reader's Digest at the dentist's office yesterday. The girl was 13, the man much, much older. Her parents made an arrangement for the marriage, but no bride price was paid. The husband-to-be promised he wouldn't consummate the union until the girl reached an agreed upon age. He reneged on his promise on their wedding night.

She was granted the divorce with help from a female attorney and women's advocate. She's now back in school.

[smirkymonkey]

13. This is really gross. An 86 year old w/ a 15 year old.

There is just something freakishly unnatural about that. Poor girl.