8-Year-Old Girl Married to 40-Year-Old Dies of Internal Bleeding on Wedding Night

A young girl in Yemen died after having sexual relations with a 40-year-old man who became her husband in an arranged marriage, according to media reports.

The 8-year-old was identified as “Rawan” and died from torn genitals and severe bleeding in the northwest city of Hardh, Gulf News reported, citing Yemen media accounts.

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The child lived in a tribal area that borders Saudi Arabia. Human rights organizations have called for the arrest of the husband, the news site Al Bawaba said.

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According to Othman, Yemeni authorities have taken no punitive action against the girl's family or the husband who allegedly raped her to death.

Security officials and local journalists in Yemen have refuted a report that an eight-year-old bride died of internal injuries and bleeding on her wedding night, Dubai-based Gulf News reported.

But two Meedi residents told Reuters that the girl had indeed bled to death following her wedding and that local tribal chiefs had attempted to cover up the story.

“When I heard the rumors [of the girl's death], I called the girl’s father," the local director of Criminal Investigation, Mosleh Al Azzani, told Gulf News by telephone on Monday. "He came with his daughter and denied the marriage and death of his daughter. I have the photos of the girl and will show it to anyone.”

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