Sanaa, Yemen (CNN) -- Yemen's human rights
minister wants child marriage outlawed after an
8-year-old girl reportedly died of internal injuries
that she suffered on her wedding night.
When reports emerged last week that a girl
named Rawan, from the northern Yemeni town of
Haradh, died a few days after being married off to
a 40-year-old man, Yemenis were horrified.
International outrage quickly grew, as the alleged
incident highlighted once again the extremely
controversial issue of child marriage in Yemen -- a
country where the practice is still legal.
Residents of Haradh told local media outlets that
Rawan's cause of death was internal bleeding,
believed to be the result of sexual intercourse that
tore her uterus and other organs.
Local officials, however, have denied the story is
true.
Amidst the numerous claims and counterclaims,
Hooria Mashhour, Yemen's human rights minister,
has declared enough is enough — telling CNN that
the growing anger over Rawan's case has
presented Yemen with an opportunity to finally do
the right thing.

"This isn't the first time a child marriage has
happened in Yemen, so we should not focus only
on this case," Mashhour said.
"Many child marriages take place every year in
Yemen. It's time to end this practice."
"I personally have (talked to) the human rights
coordinator for the ministry on the ground in
Haradh," said Mashhour, "and he informed me
that nearly everyone he spoke to is denying the
story, but he feels strongly suspicious. We feel
people may be hiding information due to fear."
CNN spoke with several locals who requested
anonymity, as they feared possible reprisals.
Many said they'd been ordered to stop discussing
the case with the media, insisting officials there
were actively downplaying what had happened.
"No one is talking about this story because its an
embarrassment," said one resident, "but this is
what poverty can do to people."
Many Yemenis say they are forced to sell off their
girls to older, wealthier men.
Mohammed Ahmed, head of Haradh's police
department, called the reports "baseless."
"Residents heard this story from one another and
it spread very quickly, like a rumor," Ahmed said
-- adding that Rawan's father had been called into
the town's police station for questioning and had
denied the incident.
"When he came to us he brought a little girl with
him who he said was Rawan to prove his case, and
they were both photographed together by the
police," Ahmed said.
Yemeni child rights advocate Ahmed Al-Qureshi
told CNN he's been investigating the case for
more than a week and there's still a lot of
confusion surrounding what exactly happened.
He's demanding more transparency from officials.

"The government is informing us that the Rawan
is in their custody and still alive, while other local
sources are saying that she was secretly buried,"
said Al-Qureshi, who heads up Seyaj, one of
Yemen's leading children's rights groups.
"The government is refusing to allow us to visit
the girl in their custody," he said. "The evidence
we have now cannot prove that Rawan was killed,
and that is why we need the government's
cooperation."
In Yemen, deeply tribal and conservative, the
issue of child marriage is an extremely
complicated one. According to rights group
Human Rights Watch , more than half of all young
girls there are married before age 18. About 14%
of girls in Yemen are married before age 15.
In the wake of Rawan's case, the group issued a
statement urging Yemen to "protect its girls from
the devastating effects of early marriage by
setting 18 as the minimum age for marriage by
law."
HRW added that "the current political transition
and drafting process for a new constitution offer a
unique opportunity for the Yemeni government to
enact laws protecting the rights of girls."
"Thousands of Yemeni girls have their childhood
stolen and their futures destroyed because they
are forced to marry too young," said Liesl
Gerntholtz, HRW's women's rights director. "The
Yemeni government should end this abusive
practice."
In 2009, Yemen's parliament passed legislation
raising the minimum age of marriage to 17. But
conservative parliamentarians argued the bill
violated Islamic law, which does not stipulate a
minimum age of marriage, and the bill was never
signed.
Activist groups and politicians are still trying
change the law, but more than 100 leading
religious clerics have said restricting the age of
marriage is "un-Islamic."
Over the last few years, several Yemeni child bride
cases have emerged that have shocked the world.
In 2008, 10-year-old Nujood Ali became a heroine
to Yemeni girls and an international sensation
when she went to a court in Sanaa and asked a
judge for a divorce. After a highly publicized trial,
she was granted one.
In 2010, a 12-year-old Yemeni bride died of
internal bleeding following intercourse three days
after she was married off to an older man,
according to the United Nations Children's Fund.
Over the summer, an 11-year-old Yemeni girl
named Nada Al-Ahdal became an internet
sensation when a video of her accusing her
parents of trying to marry her off in exchange for
money was uploaded to YouTube and quickly went
viral. While her parents denied Nada's story, and
child rights activists questioned the veracity of
her claims, the video was still viewed by millions
of people.
Despite repeated attempts, CNN has been unable
to reach Rawan's father for comment.

Culled From CNN Amanpour --

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