Man, 70, Marries 15-Year-Old Who Ran Back To Family, Wants Money Back, Details
A 70-year-old Saudi Arabian man is denying claims that his new wife is 15-years-old and is stating that the girl's family ripped him off for the large amount of money he paid for her hand in marriage.
Human rights activists are stating that the bride is a teenager and that they aren't thrilled with the circumstance.
CNN interviewed the unidentified man on Tuesday, who states that he forked over an equivalent of $20,000 U.S. dollars. The union first became public knowledge when the man complained to a local authority member that his wife had left him, saying that her family took her back in and he was ripped off.
He also told the news site that she was well over the age of 15.
"She is not 15 as everybody claims. She's 25 years old and she's mature enough to make her own decisions... I was fooled by the girl's family."
Currently, the country of Saudi Arabia has no laws in place that set an age limit on marriage.
Human rights workers state that they think there was a fight between the man and teenager, and she went back to her family.
Dr. Suhaila Zein al-Abedin of the Saudi National Association for Human Rights was vocal regarding his concern by not only the teen's age but by the situation over the marriage.
"When you consider the very large difference in age, it looks more like this was not a marriage, but like the girl was sold. The girl's parents need to be held responsible for this."
Some of the activist groups such as the Human Rights Campaign (HRC) are looking to set a minimum age limit on marriage. The HRC feels that anyone below the age of 18 who wants to tie the knot get the consent of the courts. However, extremely conservative scholars have balked at a law that would impose limits on the age.