girl forced to marry dies while giving birth

[Amby 490]

AMMAN, Jordan (CNN) -- A 12-year-old Yemeni girl, who was forced into marriage, died during a painful childbirth that also killed her baby, a children's rights group said Monday.

Fawziya Ammodi struggled for three days in labor, before dying of severe bleeding at a hospital on Friday, said the Seyaj Organization for the Protection of Children.

"Although the cause of her death was lack of medical care, the real case was the lack of education in Yemen and the fact that child marriages keep happening," said Seyaj President Ahmed al-Qureshi.

Born into an impoverished family in Hodeidah, Fawziya was forced to drop out of school and married off to a 24-year-old man last year, al-Qureshi said.

Child brides are commonplace in Yemen, especially in the Red Sea Coast where tribal customs hold sway. Hodeidah is the fourth largest city in Yemen and an important port.

More than half of all young Yemeni girls are married off before the age of 18 -- many times to older men, some with more than one wife, a study by Sanaa University found.

While it was not immediately known why Fawziya's parents married her off, the reasons vary. Sometimes, financially-strapped parents offer up their daughters for hefty dowries.

Marriage means the girls are no longer a financial or moral burden to their parents. And often, parents will extract a promise from the husband to wait until the girl is older to consummate the marriage.

The issue of Yemeni child brides came to the forefront in 2008 with 10-year-old Nujood Ali.

She was pulled out of school and married to a man who beat and raped her within weeks of the ceremony.

To escape, Nujood hailed a taxi -- the first time in her life -- to get across town to the central courthouse where she sat on a bench and demanded to see a judge.

After a well-publicized trial, she was granted a divorce.

The Yemeni parliament tried in February to pass a law, setting the minimum marriage age at 17. But the measure has not reached the president because many parliamentarians argued it violates sharia, or Islamic law, which does not stipulate a minimum age.

http://www.cnn.com/2009/HEALTH/09/14/yemen...eath/index.html

[Chica Yeyé 41]

(F)

[Nagishkaw 510]

She was pulled out of school and married to a man who beat and raped her within weeks of the ceremony.

F-ing kiddie humpers!

[Ban Hammer 13,678]

[tmma 467]

Exactly.

This reminds me of a thread ages ago with VP........

[Ban Hammer 13,678]

Exactly.

This reminds me of a thread ages ago with VP........

i remember that thread!

[tmma 467]

Exactly.

This reminds me of a thread ages ago with VP........

i remember that thread!

Yeah that was a scorcher! Where is VP, anyway?

[Mary Lou 682]

I read another article on this yesterday. Saying these young girls marrying are very common in Yemen.

This 12yr labored for 3 days and the baby was stillborn, bad enough she was married off, then no doubt raped, poor little girl loses her life like this.

[Mags 112]

Poor girls.

[almaty 19]

very sad and very primitive...

[Ban Hammer 13,678]

Exactly.

This reminds me of a thread ages ago with VP........

i remember that thread!

Yeah that was a scorcher! Where is VP, anyway?

she was here under another name, not seen her in months though.

[The_Dude 1,142]

The Yemeni parliament tried in February to pass a law, setting the minimum marriage age at 17. But the measure has not reached the president because many parliamentarians argued it violates sharia, or Islamic law, which does not stipulate a minimum age.

http://www.cnn.com/2009/HEALTH/09/14/yemen...eath/index.html

That is just sad.

[NArocks 13]

(F)

[rebeccajo 14]

very sad and very primitive...

[forchika 4]

I could not imagine.....my daughter is 3mos shy of being 12yrs old