An elderly Afghan cleric said to be around 60 years old, has reportedly made headlines today after getting married to a 6-year-old girl in Kabul.
According to reports, the marriage rites was observed on Friday and the accused has since been arrested in the latest case of child marriages which has been an unavoidable scourge ravaging the war-torn country.
Image: File photo
Mohammad Karim [the defendant], was put under arrest in central Ghor province, Arab News reported.
He, however, claims that he has committed no crime because the girl’s parents willingly gave her to him as a “religious offering,” officials said.
Are human offerings still legal in any modern country or religion?
While we wait for your answers, it’s important to add that Karim’s claim on his received “peace offering”–or whatever he thinks that is–has been refuted by parents of the said girl.
Reports say the girl’s parents have been in shock ever since their daughter was abducted from western Herat province, a location near Iran.
“This girl does not speak, but repeats only one thing: ‘I am afraid of this man’,” said Masoom Anwari, head of the women affairs department in Ghor, Arab News reported.
The girl is currently in a woman’s shelter in Ghor and her parents are on their way to the province to collect her, the local governor’s office said.
“Karim has been jailed and our investigation is ongoing,” said Abdul Hai Khatibi, the governor’s spokesman.
The arrest comes just days after a 14-year-old pregnant girl was burned to death in Ghor, in a case that sparked shock waves in Afghanistan.
The family of that girl, Zahra, said she was tortured and set alight by her husband’s family. But relatives of the teenager’s husband insisted her death was by self-immolation.
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