By AHMAD AL-HAJ | AP
Published: Apr 11, 2010 00:49 Updated: Apr 11, 2010 00:49
SHUEBA, Yemen: A 13-year-old Yemeni child bride who bled to death shortly after marriage was tied down and forced to have sex by her husband, according to interviews with the child's mother, police and medical reports.
The girl's mother, Nijma Ahmed, 50, said that before her daughter lost consciousness, she said that her husband had tied her up and forced himself on her.
“She looked like she was butchered,” she said about her daughter's injuries.
Elham Assi, 13, bled to death hours after she spoke to her mother and just days after she was married to a 23-year-old man. She died on April 2 in the deeply poor Yemeni village of Shueba, some 200 kilometers northwest of the capital.
Her husband, Abed Al-Hikmi, is in police custody. The practice of marrying young girls is widespread in Yemen where a quarter of all females marry before the age of 15, according to a 2009 report by the country's Ministry of Social Affairs. Traditional families prefer young brides because they are seen as more obedient and are expected to have more children.
Legislation to ban child brides has been stalled by opposition from religious leaders. There has been no government comment over the case.
The girl — one of eight siblings — was pushed into marriage after an agreement between her brother and her future-husband to marry each other's sisters to avoid having to pay expensive dowry prices — a common arrangement in Yemen, the poorest country in the Middle East.
According to police notes from the interrogation of the husband, he was upset because he could not consummate their relationship and felt under pressure to prove his manhood. Assi's mother said she also tried to persuade her daughter to have sex with her husband so as not to shame the family.
Al-Hikmi took his young bride to a nearby medical clinic, asking a doctor there to administer her tranquilizers so she would not resist his advances. The clinic said it refused. Al-Hikmi then obtained performance enhancing pills, according to the police interrogation, and that night completed the act while she screamed.
The next day, he returned to the same medical clinic carrying Assi because she could not walk.
“I told him not to go near her for at least ten days,” said Dr. Fathiya Haidar. She said Assi's vaginal canal was ripped.
A forensic report obtained by the AP showed that Assi's injuries were much more extensive, including extensive tearing around the both private parts, suggesting that there might have been additional intercourse after the clinic visit.
Her mother said she visited Assi later that day, where she found her daughter fading in and out of consciousness.
“She whispered in my ear that he had tied her up and had sex with her violently,” she said. “I said to her husband, what have you done, you criminal?” She said Al-Hikmi told her that the young bride was just possessed by spirits and said he would take her to a folk healer to cast them out. Hours later, Assi was dead.
“She asked me to stay beside her,” her mother said.
The practice of marrying young girls is widespread in Yemen and has drawn the attention of international rights groups seeking to pressure the government to outlaw child marriages.
“Early marriage places girls at increased risk of dropping out of school, being exposed to violence, abuse and exploitation, and even losing their lives from pregnancy, childbirth and other complications,” said UNICEF's regional director Sigrid Kaag, in a statement Wednesday condemning the death.
A February 2009 law set the minimum age for marriage at 17, but it was repealed and sent back to parliament's constitutional committee for review after some lawmakers called it un-Islamic. The committee is expected to make a final decision on the legislation this month.
The issue of Yemen's child brides received widespread attention three years ago when an 8-year-old girl boldly went by herself to a courtroom and demanded a judge dissolve her marriage to a man in his 30s. She eventually won a divorce.
In September, a 12-year-old Yemeni child-bride died after struggling for three days in labor to give birth, a local human rights organization said.
I think every religious scholar will condemn this. The problem is with people and with Sharia legislation. When rules will not be properly applied, when criminals will not be punished, such things will be prevalent no matter how much the scholars condemn this. We do not need scholar's condemnation of this act, our instincts tell us that this debauchery is inhumane and hence, unIslamic.
Help me to escape from this existence
I yearn for an answer... can you help me?
I'm drowning in a sea of abused visions and shattered dreams
In somnolent illusion... I'm paralyzed
Where's karl and his defense of "sunnah" on this? I'd like to see him come here and call everyone that calls this barbaric as an apostate and enemy of islam...
^such people use the fact that the prophet married Aisha to justify things like this or the marrying of young girls, so how would you refute this or Karls argument?
Salam
a "ruling" on anwar al-awlaki life and now a child bride dead.
loving the propaganda.
p.s im not condoning this (if its true and not blown out of proportion to begin with) but it does, non-the-less look extremely weird considering whats happening in Yemen.
...desperate for husnul-khitaam...
please make dua that Allah grants me a good end (to my life). please make dua that Allah guides me.
^such people use the fact that the prophet married Aisha to justify things like this or the marrying of young girls, so how would you refute this or Karls argument?
Salam
but they forget that prophet pbuh marriage with aisha was divinely inspired and there is a lot of hikmah behind that, this doesnt mean that every muslim should go looking for younger bride.
muslim ummah that time and even at this time benefits from prophets marriage with aisha
not like whats happening in yemen this marriage was more of a settlement and a disaster for muslims and these are few things which disbelievers will mock at
Oh lord make my best deeds the last deeds
Oh lord make my best day the last day (aakhirah)
but they forget that prophet pbuh marriage with aisha was divinely inspired and there is a lot of hikmah behind that, this doesnt mean that every muslim should go looking for younger bride.
muslim ummah that time and even at this time benefits from prophets marriage with aisha
not like whats happening in yemen this marriage was more of a settlement and a disaster for muslims and these are few things which disbelievers will mock at
I understand that but the prophets life is an example for us, obviously there are things that were halal for the prophet based on his situation that are not halal for the rest of the ummah like how many wives he had. he was allowed more than 4 and one of the reasons was that the prophet (saw) was uniting the tribes and making good will between the muslims he also married widows. there is alot of hikmah there. other muslim men were also barred from taking on more than 4 wives but there is no prohibition in islam in marrying young girls.
There is a reason why we hit puberty at a certain age as opposed to being older. when you reach puberty you are an adult in islam and are held accountable for your actions and i understand that. but like Mr. president said is this halal or not? What is Islam ruling on this particularly when things like this situation happen.
Salam
I hope they can at least recover some of those great threads it would be a great loss really to lose some of the best efforts from some of the most learned on the forum..
Text without context is pretext If your opponent is of choleric temperament, seek to irritate him
by the way I found this story very disturbing, graphic and almost inhuman.. that guy is a disgusting pervert who should be taken in on charges of sodomy and rape as well if I understand correctly the forensic evidence from the above.
her own mother had her when she was 37 so I don't understand why the need to marry them before they've bloomed if it is a question of 'fertility' although in this case it seems a question of low dowry!
Text without context is pretext If your opponent is of choleric temperament, seek to irritate him
@ Mr President: That Saudi sheikh is not the representative of ALL Saudi sheikhs. Everyone has their opinion. Having diverse opinions can be a misery or a blessing. Pick one.
And this beast should be punished according to Sharia.
Last edited by CosmicPathos; 04-11-2010 at 03:12 AM.
Help me to escape from this existence
I yearn for an answer... can you help me?
I'm drowning in a sea of abused visions and shattered dreams
In somnolent illusion... I'm paralyzed
^such people use the fact that the prophet married Aisha to justify things like this or the marrying of young girls, so how would you refute this or Karls argument?
Salam
The prophet married Aisha (ra) when she was young, because at that time girls used to marry early (may be people where physiologically different from us today). That's not really an islamic custom, but the arabs (or people) custom in the early ages. Now as the cultural habits and health condition of people changed, such marriages will be inappropriate. Islam doesn't accept the marriage of a girl if she is not physically and psychically ready to get married.
"O you who believe! Fear ALLAH as He should be feared" [aal 'Imraan, 102]
The prophet married Aisha (ra) when she was young, because at that time girls used to marry early (may be people where physiologically different from us today). That's not really an islamic custom, but the arabs (or people) custom in the early ages. Now as the cultural habits and health condition of people changed, such marriages will be inappropriate. Islam doesn't accept the marriage of a girl if she is not physically and psychically ready to get married.
This story has probably made me sad. A girl of 13 is neither mentally nor physically primed for marriage...atleast he should not have consummated the marriage. By the way do you call this consummation?!?!?! NO!!! This is apparently a case of rape...
May Allah SWT punish the man grant the girl Jannah and let her watch him suffer in the Hell.
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A girl of 13 is neither mentally nor physically primed for marriage...atleast he should not have consummated the marriage. By the way do you call this consummation?!?!?! NO!!! This is apparently a case of rape...
grant the girl Jannah and let her watch him suffer in the Hell.
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