An eight year old bride named Rawan died from internal injuries on her wedding night, bleeding to death after deep tearing caused by sex with her 40 year old husband.
Forced marriage of child brides in Yemen remains a socially accepted custom in many rural areas and Yemeni activists urged the local police to arrest the “beastly groom” and the girl’s family and transfer them to a court where justice would be served and the case would be used to help put an end to the practice of marrying very young girls in the impoverished country, the daily said.
Nevertheless, the forced marriage of child brides in Yemen remains a socially accepted custom in many rural areas.Indeed, the practice has deep cultural and religious roots, and is widespread in Yemen. In February 2009 law set the minimum age for marriage at 17, but it was repealed after some conservative lawmakers called it un-Islamic.
The issue of Yemen's child bride problem made headlines three years ago when an 8-year-old girl went to court, demanding a judge dissolve her marriage to a man in his 30s. The girl eventually won a divorce, and legislators began looking at ways to curb the practice. However, they have so far been unsuccessful.
Currently the law states that parents should decide when a daughter marries. Unfortunately, reports indicate more than a quarter of Yemen’s females marry before age 15.
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