Seyaj appealed to the security and judicial authorities in Dhamar governorate to quickly refer the father of ten-year-old Saud Yahya Mohammed and her sixty-year-old husband to trial and to annul the marriage contract because the child rejected the marriage and her supposed consent has no legal value.
The organization also called for the father, husband, and registrar to receive the harshest possible punishment for violating the rights of a child. After follow-up and investigation, Seyaj coordinated with tribal figures in Wasab Al-Aali to push for the father and husband to be referred to the police and then to the prosecution.
Seyaj warned that sexual violence and forced marriage of girls have increased in Yemen as a result of war, the collapse of child justice systems, and the weakening of genuine child-protection mechanisms.
