This is very disturbing. A Saudi man arranged for his 8-year-old daughter to marry a 47-year-old man to settle his debts. I always thought fathers were overprotective of their daughters? The girl’s mother petitioned to have the marriage annulled but the judge, Sheikh Habib Abdallah al-Habib, dismissed it due to her not being the legal guardian of the girl! Are you seriously kidding me??? Does it really matter who is the custodial parent? This is endangerment of a child. The father should be faulted for what he did. I know I’m looking at this from an American’s point of view, but this is just wrong no matter what country. This is ok’ing pedophilia.
The judge asked the man for a pledge not to consummate the marriage until the girl reaches puberty. So, basically by then he will be over fifty and she’ll still be a teenager-which still makes it super wrong. It doesn’t make it better if she’s 14 and he’s 53. And who will be ensuring that he keeps up his end of the pledge? Will there be regular medical examinations to ensure her hymen is untouched? And this doesn’t mean that he won’t force her to “lick the lollipop.” She is like his own little slave/indentured servant. The judge also said that when the girl reaches puberty she can petition for a divorce with the court. Now, by no means am I an expert in Middle Eastern relations but women aren’t exactly treated to equal rights. So the likelihood of her petition being approved will more than likely be slim. In addition to that, she might be socialized by that time to appreciate what he has to offer, a sort of Stockholm syndrome. Stockholm syndrome is a psychological response in a hostage situation in which the hostage shows signs of loyalty to the hostage-taker, regardless of the danger (or at least risk) in which they have been placed. And basically in this case, she is a form of a hostage. It is also common in other types of abuse, such as the victims of domestic abuse, battered partners and child abuse (dependent children). In many instances the victims choose to remain loyal to their abuser, and choose not to leave him or her, even when they are offered a safe placement in foster homes or safe houses. This is really really bothering me.. blasphemy…