Veil lifts on plight of child brides

Two girls' fight against pre-teen marriages shocks Yemen "'Other cases have been dealt with by tribal sheikhs – the girl never had any choice'" Published Date: 06 July 2008 ONE morning last month, Arwa Abdu Muhammad Ali walked out of her husband's house and ran to a local hospital, where she complained that he had been beating and sexually abusing her for eight months. That alone would be surprising in Yemen, a deeply conservative Arab society where family disputes tend to be solved privately. What made it even more unusual was that Arwa was nine years old. Within days, Arwa had become a celebrity in Yemen, whe re child marriage is common but has rarely been exposed in public. She was the second child bride to come forward in less than a month; in April, a 10-year-old named Nujood Ali had gone by herself to a courthouse... [read full story]