Bride, 8, dies of injuries on wedding night in Yemen-Rawan dies hours after marrying a man more than five times her age

Manama: Kuwaitis have called for stringent action against a family in Yemen after their eight-year-old daughter died of internal injuries on the first night of her arranged marriage to a man more than five times her age.

Rawan died in city of Hardh in the Governorate of Hajjah in northwestern Yemen, Kuwaiti daily Al Watan reported on Sunday, quoting Yemeni media.

She is believed to have suffered a tear to her genitals and severe bleeding.

Yemeni activists urged the local police to arrest the “beastly groom” and the girl’s family and transfer them to a court where justice would be served and the case would be used to help put an end to the practice of marrying very young girls in the impoverished country, the daily said.

In Kuwait, bloggers offered their prayers for the “bride”, but lashed out at the “groom”, saying that he was a beast who should be severely punished.

Angry Man, a blogger, posted that the man was “an animal who deserved to be punished severely for his crime.”

“All those who supported such a crime should also be punished,” he said.

Under the moniker “Sad”, another blogger said that everybody should have realised that Rawan was too young to get married.

“Her family and her groom could have waited for some time before having this marriage,” Sad said. “It was not fair at all and the marriage should not have happened even if some tribes believe that it is a good custom.”

Bu Omar said that he was disturbed by the death report.

“Rawan’s family members are not humans. They do not deserve to have children,” he said.

Activists in the region are fighting for forced child marriage to be banned, and they have called for police to arrest the girl’s husband and family.

The issue of forced marriage of child brides is a socially accepted custom and is widespread in many rural areas in Yemen.

A February 2009 law set the minimum age for marriage at 17, but it was repealed after some conservative lawmakers called it un-Islamic.

In particular, a prominent Islamic cleric, Abdulmajeed al-Zindani, issued a fatwa in support of the practice, declaring supporters of a ban on child brides to be apostates, and ultimately leading a successful campaign against legislation that would prevent adult men from marrying children.

Legislators have been looking at ways to curb the practice and they have so far been unsuccessful.

Currently the law states that parents should decide when a daughter marries. Unfortunately, reports indicate more than a quarter of Yemen’s females marry before age 15.