Child brides are a reality in the Middle East. It’s difficult to pinpoint exactly when this tradition started gaining wide acceptance, but one thing is for sure: Most Islamic countries (especially poorer ones) regard this practice as normal, even beneficial. Why wouldn’t they? Their own prophet, Mohammad, consummated his marriage with his favorite bride, Aisha, when she was only 9 years old (there’s considerable whitewashing when it comes to the issue of her age. In fact, even Wikipedia avoids mentioning it, an obvious pandering to Islamic apologetics). The story is either generally not discussed in the Islamic community, or if it is, it’s used as justification for this disgusting tradition.

CNN has the touching and painful story of little Nujood Ali, a 10 year old Yemeni girl who recently had to fight to divorce her much older abusive “husband”. She’s become somewhat of a celebrity, and her parents (the same people who basically sold her away to a pervert) are angry that her fame has not resulted in any money for them.

The most disturbing element in this story is under Sharia law, the husband had to be compensated financially for the divorce. So rather than go to jail for beating and raping this child, the courts have ordered Nujood to pay her husband more than 200 dollars. That’s a massive sum in a country where a significant portion of the population live off less than $1 a day.