Yemen: "Only 10 years old" – a mother on the child marriage she stopped
A Yemeni mother says she was the only one in her family who opposed marrying her 10-year-old daughter to an elderly man. She spoke exclusively to RT in the city of Ibb on Sunday.
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The girl was already engaged to a man of "70 or 80". The match was reportedly arranged by her father. The mother fled with her daughter, with the help of the Yemen Women's Union.
"My daughter is only 10 years old and her father gave her to marry a man who is 70 or 80 years old," she said. "Her father insisted on marrying her to this elderly man. That's why I took her and we ran away from home and hid here, with the representatives of the Islah party."
"I'm completely against the idea of marrying her at this age, whether to this man or another," she said. "She is still a child and she must learn. She is in fourth grade now. She is only 10 years old and she will not survive this marriage."
She said the rest of the family supported the father. "They said that it corresponds to Sharia and the book of the Prophet. The Prophet himself married Aisha when he was much older than she was. They said her father knows what's best for her, and the sooner she marries, the better. They were all against me."