SANA'A

Hundreds of women clad in black `niqabs’ demonstrated in front of parliament in the Yemeni capital Sanaa on 23 March. Some were waving banners with the words: “Yes to the Sharia [Islamic legal] rights of Muslim women”, while others raised the Koran above their heads.







“It is against Islam to set a minimum age for marriage,” said Zeinab al-Sunaidar, 27, a secretary from Iman University. “A girl can get married when she’s an adult - for some girls that is when they are 15 and for others when they are nine.”







The debate on early marriages has polarized Yemeni society. Some cite religious texts as a justification not to set a minimum age. Others say Islam does not advocate child marriages and that the negatives of children getting married far outweigh the positives.







What is the current legal age of marriage?







Prior to the unification of Yemen in 1990, the law set the minimum age of marriage at 16 in South Yemen and 15 in the north. After unification, the law was set at 15. In 1999, the civil status law was amended and the minimum age was abolished.







However, according to Shada Mohammed Nasser, an attorney at the Supreme Court who has worked on several child bride cases, the law stipulates that a girl should not sleep with her husband until she is mature. “But the law is not enforced,” said Nasser, citing the case of 12-year-old Sally al-Sabahi, who was married at the age of 10 and was divorced on 27 March. [Read her original story and latest update .]







How many marry under age in Yemen?







