Nojoud, Age: 8, Seeks Divorce

I found a really heart-wrenching article at Pharyngula today. He links to an article about a young (8 years old) Yemen girl who is going to court on her own behalf to get a divorce.

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.

While some people are worried about silk bedding here is a young girl, forced into acting like a woman, finding strength to go against everything her society believes in. Nojoud is supposed to be oohing over a young rock star or playing dress-up with her 3rd grade classmates. Instead she’s fighting off a grown man who regularly beat and raped her- so that her father could have some family honor and a little bit of money.

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.” [emphasis mine]

Still a little girl at heart, Nohoud was forced to behave as a grown woman in a marriage bed. Worse than what most married women in the States would every face from their husbands, because at least women in this country have a right not to be violated.

The Yemen law states that no one- male or female – under the age of 15 years can marry (though parents can make marital contracts for their young children) so there are legal ramifications for both Nohoud’s husband and father. Her husband is currently in jail waiting trial. Her father was jailed but later released because of a medical condition. Her uncle, who refuses to give his name, has decided to follow the trial as Nohoud’s guardian. It’s likely that she will be removed from the home and placed with an foster care-like organization where she will be housed, educated and protected from her “husband” and father. They believe that if they put Nohoud back with her family then they will sell her again in a few years.

I wanted to highlight this because similar things are happening here with the Mormon sects (marrying off young girls to grown men for their own sadistic pleasures). I wanted to showcase an issue that young girls and women really are facing in other parts of the world and how there are people that would happily take the U.S. to that place. It’s important to see what girls and women all over the world are facing so that we can protect our own women and girls- as well as work to make the lives of girls like Nohoud more like the lives of our own 8 year-olds here (all about Hannah Montana and not-so much about fighting off the horny husband).

Nohoud is an example of strength and independence that needs to be nourished in girls at that age. She knows that she shouldn’t have to live like that and has taken the unprecedented step of taking her own life into her own hands.

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