At the age of 11, Noora Al Shami found herself dressed in attire meant for adults, completely unaware of the harrowing experience awaiting her that night when her 35-year-old cousin, who would later become her husband, took her home and subjected her to assault.
During a festive three-day occasion in the port city of Al Hudaydah in Yemen, young Noora was adorned in “three exquisite dresses” at the family festivity, only to be coerced into enduring years of sexual abuse by Mohammed Al Ahdam.
To the innocent Noora, dressing up appeared to be innocent amusement, yet little did she know it foreshadowed the trauma to come. “I was permitted to don adult clothing, wear jewelry, and receive gifts,” shared Noora, now 47, with The Guardian. “It never crossed my mind that I would fall victim to a violent criminal.”
The first instance Al Ahdam exposed himself to Noora, she fled. She successfully evaded the assault for 10 days until Al Ahdam’s sisters accused her of dishonoring their brother by rebuffing him, as reported by the Express.
When the assault occurred, Noora’s body went into shock. “I was swiftly taken to the hospital – I was a child treated as a mere object of desire, yet the abuse persisted. My grievances went unheeded, as I was considered a lawful wife.”
Al Ahdam, a significantly older distant relative, wedded Noora in 1989 just after she turned 11. “He was three times my age and viewed marriage as a license to act like a debased animal,” Noora recounted.
In 2021, UNICEF disclosed a staggering 4 million child brides in Yemen. Years after Noora’s own underage marriage, data from Human Rights Watch in 2006 revealed that 14% of Yemeni girls were wed by 15, with more than half married before turning 18.
Families frequently marry off daughters to alleviate financial burdens in exchange for dowries, despite minimal protection for young girls under Islamic law.
“My husband provided a dowry of approximately $150, a considerable sum. However, it was after the wedding that fear and dread consumed me. I was separated from my parents and left with a stranger. He drove me to his residence shared with his widowed father in Al Hudaydah. It was a pleasant abode, yet I immediately trembled and wept,” Noora recounted.
Noora endured two miscarriages within a year before giving birth to her son Ihab at just 13. Her daughter Ahlam arrived when she was 14, followed by her son Shihab at 15, with each pregnancy fraught with complications.
Her husband Al Ahdam’s cruelty escalated. “He didn’t hesitate to strike me, even during pregnancy,” Noora remembered. “If his father hadn’t been present, it would have been much worse. His presence served as a form of restraint, but I still sustained severe injuries.”
Al Adham also subjected their children to his brutality, once violently handling their daughter Alham, resulting in a hospital visit for the two-year-old, who was left bleeding and injured.
After enduring a decade of horrendous mistreatment, Noora sought solace in a program led by Oxfam and the Yemeni Women’s Union, aimed at aiding survivors of domestic violence. She bravely initiated divorce proceedings.
The battle didn’t conclude there. Noora engaged in a legal struggle for financial assistance to raise her children.
Her resilience empowered her to resume education, become a qualified teacher, and she now ardently advocates for stricter regulations against child marriage.
Noora refuses to be shackled by the “remnants of the past.” “We must transform the lives of our children, not just through legislation,” she emphasized.
“We need a complete cultural overhaul. Legislation alone has proven insufficient, particularly within tribal communities,” Noora acknowledged.
“The legal marriage age has stood at 15 for some time, yet my mother was wed at nine, divorced by ten, and underwent two more marriages. She bore me in her early teens.
“I aspired to pursue education and secure a good job, but my parents couldn’t afford it. They didn’t want me to face perpetual poverty. I couldn’t comprehend their decision to marry me off – it just seemed to be the norm for most girls my age.”
Despite the relentless endeavors of Noora and other advocates to elevate the legal marriage age from 15 to 18, the enduring physical and emotional scars often persist.
However, even with potential legislative amendments, Islamic law doesn’t stipulate a minimum marriage age, and Yemeni clerics frequently challenge statutory constraints.
Presently, 30% of girls in Yemen are married before 18, with 7% wed before they reach 15, as per Girls Not Brides, an advocacy group.
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