London -
A 90-year-old Saudi Arabian man is suing the family of his 15-year-old bride after she shut herself in her bedroom on their wedding night.
She locked the door from the inside so that he could not enter. Two days later she fled to her parents’ home.
The husband wants his money back, saying he paid a £11 000 dowry to her Saudi mother and Yemeni father, the Al Arabiya TV channel reported.
The 15-year-old’s arranged marriage has caused a furore in Saudi Arabia where critics took to Twitter, calling it child trafficking. One said: “She is still considered as a product! A father sells his daughter without mercy, to be bought by money and status.”
A member of the Saudi National Association for Human Rights, Suhaila Zein el-Abedin, said the case underlined the need for the country to establish a minimum age of 18 for marriage. - Daily Mail