JEDDAH: The National Society for Human Rights (NSHR) is to investigate how a 70-year-old man was allowed to marry a 14-year-old-girl, seemingly without her consent. Ahmad Al-Bahkali of the NSHR in Jizan said that the 14-year-old Noura's father, the marriage official who conducted the union, and the judge who approved the marriage all face allegations of violations. “No marriage can be declared legal without the bride's consent and her taking receipt of the dowry,” Al-Bahkali said. “Girls and women are not to be viewed as commodities for sale because Almighty Allah has decreed they have the right to accept or reject a suitor.” He said that scholars, sociologists and the media have been debating the subject, while numerous studies have asserted that women have the right to choose their spouses. “One the most important conditions for a sound and successful marriage is the couple's compatibility in terms of age,” Al-Bahkali said. Saudi Gazette reported Tuesday that authorities in the Jizan town of Al-Kadami had halted the marriage of 14-year-old Noura following a complaint from her grandparents who said she was married off against her will. Noura's father said it was conducted with her consent. A town official intervened, and after “confirming the truth of the complaint” placed the girl in the care of her grandparents, while her father was required to sign a pledge that she would remain there and that he would “refrain from any form of violence or force to make her go to her husband until official authorities in the town had ruled on the issue”. Noura herself told Okaz/Saudi Gazette that her father had “tricked her into going with him to a school for the eradication of illiteracy to receive her stipend for attendance”, where the marriage contract was completed against her will. She said she did not wish to get married, “particularly to a man as old as my grandfather”.
