An 8-year-old Saudi Arabian girl was granted a divorce by a Saudi court after the case increased international and local criticism of child marriage in the oil-rich kingdom.
The marriage of the girl to a man in his 50s was dissolved yesterday by a court in the central province of Unaizah, the state-owned al-Watan newspaper said, citing a court official.
The child's former husband arranged the marriage last year with the girl's father by agreeing to forgive him an $8,000 debt, Saudi-owned al-Arabiya television reported.
The United Nations Children's Fund had condemned the court for its initial refusal to grant the girl a divorce, saying on April 13 that the ruling was a violation of the child's rights. The Saudi Shoura Council, an advisory body that makes recommendations to the king, is considering the drafting of a law that would make 18 the minimum age for marriage in the kingdom, according to al-Riyadh newspaper.
Saudi Arabia, home to Islam's holy cities of Mecca and Medina, is a Sunni Muslim-majority country, where citizens are required to pray five times daily at mosques between 4 a.m. and 8:30 p.m. The country is governed by Islamic religious law, which bans women from driving and traveling without the company of a male relative.
-- Bloomberg News
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