I have been writing the third in the Shuki Series. It is set in a remote region of a country of Arabia. The topic of how many of the Arab nations treat their women has been very much on my mind. Two of my characters are half sisters, Shaiima and Honiara Daoud. Honiara is married at fourteen, but Shaiima refuses to be married, and luckily, her father, the Master Hasquitri Daoud, does not force her.
He could force her. She does not have to consent, she does not have to sign anything, she can simply be given to him, even tied up if necessary. No-one would say her father did not have the right, and no-one would lift a finger to prevent the rape that followed. It is custom and tradition, and not just how I wrote my book of fiction. It is fact in many barbaric countries.
Look at this article. I have copied it exactly as presented.
From the Bigpond home page 2013
Saudi teen married off to 86-year-old
Thursday, January 10, 2013 » 09:02am
The Saudi Human Rights Commission (SHRC) raised the case 'after learning of the marriage of a minor girl to an 86-year-old man in Jizan' in southeast Saudi Arabia, the group's head Bandar al-Ayban said in a statement. Al-Hayat daily had reported that the teenager locked herself inside the bedroom on her wedding night before fleeing the man's home and returning to her parents. She had been married off to the man in exchange for a dowry worth around $US17,300 ($A16,550), the daily reported. The SHRC had provided 'legal assistance to the girl' so she could get a divorce, Ayban said. Another SHRC member, Hadi al-Yami, said the girl had 'expressed her rejection of this marriage.' The divorce was announced after a regional tribal chief and local dignitaries intervened. Saudi rights officials have been pushing for a law that would set a minimum marriage age of 16. The SHRC is 'trying in cooperation with ministries of justice and health to prevent such marriages,' Yami told AFP. Rights activist Suhaila al-Hammad says the authorities must 'set the minimum marriage age at 18.' Saudi Arabia has no law against child marriage, and clerics and religious judges justify the practice based on Islamic and Saudi tradition. | |
With a man of 86, the girl would probably not have been subject to full intercourse. He could, of course, be capable of violating her in other ways.
But then there is the factor of him being soon to die. In these countries, widows face severe hardship. If she manages to get work, and is permitted to work, then she may be able to feed herself. If not, and if her relatives do not choose to take in a widow, then it is quite possible that she would starve to death.
 
is in progress.
Release date April, 2013.
This is the third in the Shuki Series. It is a story of love and life, and features the sub-theme of the battle for Women' Rights in a place where religion and tradition give her no more rights than that of a slave.
Earlier books on the series are 'Not a Man' and 'The King's Favourite.'
https://www.smashwords.com/profile/view/Samray
Also available on other online selling sites such as Barnes and Noble, Kobi and Amazon. |
It happens other places as well.
This piece added 26th January, 2013.
Former Child Bride, Held Over a Decade, Escapes Polygamist Sect
Ruby Jessop holds one of her six children Tuesday
AP/Ross D. Franklin
A week and a half after she was forced to marry her second cousin at age 14, Ruby Jessop, once a member of the polygamist Mormon sect known as the FLDS, called her older sister Flora in desperation.
"She begged me for help and said she was being abused," Flora Jessop tells PEOPLE. "I told her I would do anything I could to rescue her."
But before Flora could pick her up from the main FLDS compound in Colorado City, Ariz., Ruby was allegedly whisked away by sect members. Thus began a long search for Ruby, who was hidden from her sister and authorities for more than a decade.
That search finally came to an end last month, when Ruby, now 26, was able to flee the compound, temporarily leaving behind her six children, ages 2 to 10.
At a press conference Tuesday held by Arizona Attorney General Tom Horne, and attended by Flora, Ruby and her children, Horne announced Ruby's escape and added that deputies assisted her in regaining custody of all her children last week.
(Attempts to reach Ruby's husband, Haven Barlow, were not immediately successful. On the advice of her attorney, Ruby has not commented.)
"Ruby's one of thousands of women held under the regime of [now-imprisoned sect leader] Warren Jeffs and she's thrilled to be free," says Flora, who's since become an anti-polygamy advocate who co-authored the 2009 book "Church of Lies."
Only a handful of former child brides have escaped the church over the years, Flora says.
"They were determined to keep my sister as a baby breeder her whole life," adds Flora. "That's the reality for women in the FLDS community."
The FLDS currently has no known spokesperson.
"She begged me for help and said she was being abused," Flora Jessop tells PEOPLE. "I told her I would do anything I could to rescue her."
But before Flora could pick her up from the main FLDS compound in Colorado City, Ariz., Ruby was allegedly whisked away by sect members. Thus began a long search for Ruby, who was hidden from her sister and authorities for more than a decade.
That search finally came to an end last month, when Ruby, now 26, was able to flee the compound, temporarily leaving behind her six children, ages 2 to 10.
At a press conference Tuesday held by Arizona Attorney General Tom Horne, and attended by Flora, Ruby and her children, Horne announced Ruby's escape and added that deputies assisted her in regaining custody of all her children last week.
(Attempts to reach Ruby's husband, Haven Barlow, were not immediately successful. On the advice of her attorney, Ruby has not commented.)
"Ruby's one of thousands of women held under the regime of [now-imprisoned sect leader] Warren Jeffs and she's thrilled to be free," says Flora, who's since become an anti-polygamy advocate who co-authored the 2009 book "Church of Lies."
Only a handful of former child brides have escaped the church over the years, Flora says.
"They were determined to keep my sister as a baby breeder her whole life," adds Flora. "That's the reality for women in the FLDS community."
The FLDS currently has no known spokesperson.
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