Imam allowing for customary under-age marriage referred to court

CAIRO – 1 October 2017: The administrative prosecution referred Thursday the imam of one of Al-Mahallah al-Kubra’s mosques to the court accusing him of consenting to 27 cases of customary marriages, where the brides were underage, in his village.

One of the mothers in the village has notified the prosecution that the imam has consented to customary marriages of her underage daughter and other girls claiming that this kind of marriage is lawful until the girl reaches marriageable age after which, her marriage needs to be officially legalized. However, when her daughter reached a lawful age, her husband refused to legalize their marriage.

Consequently, Chief of Marriage Officiant Syndicate, Islam Amer, called on the parliament on September 30 to enact legislation criminalizing customary marriage for those under the age of 18.

This came after the conference held by President Abdel Fatah al-Sisi which announced the population count among other statistics in Egypt. Sisi stressed that both the government and society must pay close attention to the data presented which sheds light on many issues and challenges.

The president drew attention to the fact that there are a large number of girls who are unofficially married at the age of 12, many of whom are divorced and widowed.