Iran Passes Law Allowing Marriage As Young As 13

[Kromovaracun]

http://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/sep/26/iran-lawmakers-men-wed-adopted-daughters

//Parliamentarians in Iran have passed a bill to protect the rights of children which includes a clause that allows a man to marry his adopted daughter and while she is as young as 13 years.//

Is this evidence of harm by religion?

[Kromovaracun]

"As many as 42,000 children aged between 10 and 14 were married in 2010, according to the Iranian news website Tabnak. At least 75 children under the age of 10 were wed in Tehran alone."

[naomi24]

Yes it is - and it's sickening. And to avoid any possible confusion //In Iran, a girl under the age of 13 can still marry, but needs the permission of a judge.//

In Islam no minimum age is specified.

[RATTER15]

Disgusting people!!

[McMouse]

Spain is a largely Catholic country and the age of sexual consent for girls is 13.

[naomi24]

McMouse, you make the same mistake a lot of people make. This is about the age of consent - it's about marriage - and in this instance the marriage of a grown man to his adopted daughter - which, I think you'll agree, is a different proposition entirely.

[starone]

13 is too young in my opinion. They are still children. Having said that I know at least two young girls aged thirteen, in this country, without the benefit of marriage, who have had babies. There are no doubt very many more. Religion does not come into it - they are English and of no particular religion. How do you assess that?

[McMouse]

So sex with a 13 year old is ok provided she's not married and/or an adopted daughter?

[Kromovaracun]

"How do you assess that?"

I'm not sure what you mean. But no I don't think a 13 year old falling pregnant in the UK has anything to do with religion (my own cousin, who is now 25, had her first baby at 15).

However this case is about older men being allowed to have sex with very young girls - or, as I prefer to think of it, young girls being treated as the property of much older men. This is a sentiment which as far as I know seems to derive from the Koran, or at the very least seems to get a great deal of support from people who claim to be its followers.

[LazyGun]

@starone "13 is too young in my opinion. They are still children. Having said that I know at least two young girls aged thirteen, in this country, without the benefit of marriage, who have had babies. There are no doubt very many more. Religion does not come into it - they are English and of no particular religion. How do you assess that"

Not sure what you mean when you ask to "assess that". Were either of the 2 examples you gave of 13 year olds married off to their adoptive fathers? Does the legal framework in this country allow for marriage at such an early age? How are those examples you gave especially relevant to the OP and the laws and issues in Iran? I am a bit puzzled...

[FredPuli43]

An adopted daughter is not likely to be within the prohibited degrees of affinity under our law, so is distinguishable from a natural daughter or other close relative, but our law does, of course, treat an adopted daughter as having the same protection as a natural one. The Iranians do not make the latter ruling. The age of consent at 13 is not wrong in the eyes of the Spanish lawmakers, or, presumably, the Catholic church.

So though the Iranian law is alien to us, it is not so very far from what a Christian country would accept. That does not mean that I think it right. More interesting is whether any of these marriages are forced, against the girl's wishes.

[starone]

No McM, sex is not o.k. with a thirteen-year-old. I merely pointed out that it happens and in the cases I mentioned was consensual. Mixed race children produced and the fathers disappeared, of course. I actually am very bitter about it. The other thing I could not understand was that (apparently) nothing was done. Why didn't someone kick up a fuss? Surely the fathers should have been at least put on the sex register and, also in my opinion, had a period in prison. Oh well, I suppose I must accept that it happens and put up with it.

[starone]

I suppose what I am trying to say is it should not happen in any country and under the cloak of any religion.

[jno]

Henry VII's mother was 13 when he was born. He was her only child, a fact men might like to consider if they're hoping a young bride will bear them lots of sons.

[LazyGun]

"I suppose what I am trying to say is it should not happen in any country and under the cloak of any religion."

I think we can all agree on that point.

I am somewhat surprised at the story of these 2 13 year olds that you knew, however. Very surprised that no one persued them for child maintenance contributions more mundanely, but far more importantly why they were not followed up over having sex with someone underage. That sounds very strange to me.

[naomi24]

This from that Iranian beacon of dubious wisdom….. Ayatollah Khomeini.

//A man can marry a girl younger than nine years of age, even if the girl is still a baby being breastfed. A man, however is prohibited from having intercourse with a girl younger than nine, other sexual act such as foreplay, rubbing, kissing and sodomy is allowed. A man having intercourse with a girl younger than nine years of age has not committed a crime, but only an infraction, if the girl is not permanently damaged. If the girl, however, is permanently damaged, the man must provide for her all her life. But this girl will not count as one of the man's four permanent wives. He also is not permitted to marry the girl's sister.//

The fact that a judge is empowered to permit girls below the age of 13 to be married makes this new law a farce, designed I suspect, to assuage criticism of Islam. The truth is that any such law not only contravenes the teaching of the Koran, it opposes the practices of Mohammed, and therefore, it would be deemed unacceptable - which is why the law includes the proviso that a judge may overrule.

[FredPuli43]

Interesting point, jno. Henry VIII's mother, Elizabeth of York, was indeed 13 on marriage. The birth was attended by all the inadequate medical knowledge of the time , with the result that she didn't have any more children. She once interceded to prevent the marriage of another royal child because the girl was only nine. But at the time, and before, such marriages in royalty and the aristocracy were quite common, for obvious political reasons. We make take that the Pope didn't say or do anything against the practice.

So we, in Christian Europe, were once has bad as the Iranians in that regard.

[FredPuli43]

^may take it^ !

[ludwig]

// So we, in Christian Europe, were once has bad as the Iranians in that regard. //

If you go back far enough you'll probably find we were as bad as them in every regard. Tudor times were pretty barbaric. Thankfully our society has now moved on, and hopefully theirs will too at some point.

[naomi24]

//So we, in Christian Europe, were once has bad as the Iranians in that regard.//

…but we moved on. Whilst they continue to deem Islam beyond criticism, they can never abandon Koranic teachings, or their attempts to emulate their prophet - hence they cannot progress. They have two choices - and for them, one is unthinkable.

[cassa333]

Apart from the main point of adopted child/spouse debate this right at the end caught my eye

****
Execution of juvenile offenders in Iran has also been in spotlight in recent years amid confusion between the age of majority – when minors cease to be legally considered children – {{and the minimum age of criminal responsibility, which is 15 for boys and nine for girls under Iranian law.))

****

Even in matters of criminal responsibiy girlrs are treated worse. If a 15 year old boy or even an adult male rapes a 9yr old girl she would be crimninaly rsponsible.