Child Brides Flogged for Fleeing Illegal Marriages

Girl forced to marry 24-year-old dies after three days in labor

(NEWSER) - A pregnant 12-year-old Yemeni girl has died after three days of excruciating labor that also claimed her baby, a human rights group tells CNN. Fawziya Ammodi's poverty-stricken family forced her to drop out of school last year to marry a 24-year-old man. More than half of Yemeni girls are married off before the age of 18—many times to much older men More»

Child marriages will be 'regulated'; no evidence they'll be barred

(NEWSER) - Amid an uproar over an adult man’s marriage to an 8-year-old girl, Saudi Arabia will begin regulating child marriage, the BBC reports. The country’s justice minister wants to end the “arbitrary” process, he said, though he didn’t say such matches would be banned. A court upheld the marriage provided the husband—whose age has been reported as 47 and 60—doesn’t have sex with the girl until after she reaches puberty. More»

Underage marriage outlawed, but Muslim leaders support it

(NEWSER) - In northern Nigeria, almost half the girls are married by age 15, and a law outlawing child marriage faces serious resistance from Muslim leaders, the Times of London reports. "We have no choice," says one teen who was brutally raped by her husband. As a result, fistula—a hole torn between the vagina and bladder or rectum during childbirth—and maternal death are common. More»

(NEWSER) - A new human rights report suggests that self-immolation is on the rise among Afghan women, who believe setting themselves on fire is the only sure way to end their agonized lives. The study interviewed the family members of 800 such women, who reported that rape, domestic violence, and accusations against their honor drove them to choose hellish death. More»

More than 120 students, three teachers hospitalized

(NEWSER) - One hundred and twenty-two Afghan school girls and three teachers were sprayed with poison and hospitalized today, the latest in a long string of poisonings designed to deter girls from going to school. The poison induced dizziness, vomiting, and headaches, and made some girls pass out, but "generally they are not in critical condition," a hospital doctor said, according to CNN . "They are more traumatized." Forty are still at the hospital, but the rest have been released. More»