Top Saudi Cleric “OK for 47 year old man to marry 8 year old girl”

Posted on 17. Jan, 2009 by Jesse in Child Safety, News & Politics, Pre Deployment, Random Ramblings, World Events 80 views

It’s been a interesting week in Saudi Arabia this week with the top Saudi cleric Sheikh Abdul Aziz Al-Sheikh putting himself and the rest of his country in the international spotlight by refusing to annul the marriage of a 47 year old man and an 8 year old girl.

I will keep some words that come to mind about individuals, countries organizations or religions who think this practice is acceptable, but i will throw out one that I feel is appropriate and fitting, and that would be PEDOPHILE!!!

Sheikh Abdul Aziz Al-Sheikh was quoted as saying the following statement that I personally find appaling and think his mother should wash his mouth out with soap for even saying.

“It is incorrect to say that it’s not permitted to marry off girls who are 15 and younger,” Sheikh Abdul Aziz Al-Sheikh, the kingdom’s grand mufti, said in remarks quoted Wednesday in the regional Al-Hayat newspaper. “A girl aged 10 or 12 can be married. Those who think she’s too young are wrong and they are being unfair to her.”

The topic of child marriage has been a hot topic in the region for quite some time, but there seems to be little that has or will be done about it. Often times young girls are “traded off” to older men by the girls father to settle a debt of one sort or another, to me this boils down to human trafficking, child prostitution and should not be allowed, accepted or permitted by anyone. If an individual thinks this is accpetable, that alone should be enough to discredit them in the eyes of the world.

While the Saudi government has signed international treaties forbidding this practice, it still continues as the government there doesn’t have the pull with its people to enforce it. The religeous figure heads still have the pull in the courts and with much of the countries population. Until these indoviduals get their heads out of their asses and realize they are wrong and that this practice is morally unacceptable it will continue.

I encourage everyone, everywhere to speak out against this and let them know they are pedophiles by anyone’s standards and that the world will not allow them to continue to do this to children. As a father myself, I can not and will not ever be able to understand any reasoning from anyone who thinks this practice is ok.

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