CHILD
RAPE & ABUSE
8-year-old
girl asks for divorce in court, Sana'a, Yemen, 9 April 2008
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 sexual 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 sexual 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 Muhamm ed 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 t he 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."