Yes, this is the year 2013, and yes, what you are about to read really happened. In Saudi Arabia a girl can be married off at any age. There are no laws to prevent otherwise.
A 70-year-old Saudi Arabian man married a 15-year-old girl. He paid a $20,000 dowry to the girl’s parents for the purchase of the young prize. But alas, things in pervertsville didn’t go according to plan. The girl ended up leaving her grandpa-aged husband and running back to her family.
Indignant with the unplanned turn of events, the 70-year-old man complained to the press. Brave enough to voice his complaint but not brave enough to give his name, the man claims the girl’s family ripped him off. He openly admitted in an interview with CNN that the 15-year-old he was hoping to climb in bed with wasn’t really 15 at all. "She is not 15 as everybody claims. She's 25 years old and she's mature enough to make her own decisions... I was fooled by the girl's family."
Obviously not pitied to the extent he had hoped for, comments were made against the Neanderthal thinking that girls can be sold and married off at the whim of their parents.
Dr. Suhaila Zein al-Abedin of the Saudi National Association for Human Rights voiced his concern:
"When you consider the very large difference in age, it looks more like this was not a marriage, but like the girl was sold. The girl's parents need to be held responsible for this."
Egyptian Kareem Bassem tweeted:
"#ChildMarriage is a result of dehumanizing female humans and degrading them to 'treats' in alleged paradise. Fight dehumanization!"
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