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Afghan child bride, 9, is rescued from marriage to 55-y/o man
- after her father was forced to sell her off to buy food
By JACK NEWMAN and RACHAEL BUNYAN FOR MAILONLINE
PUBLISHED: 16:38 EST, 3 December 2021 |
A nine-year-old girl who was sold by her father to a 55-year-old man as a child bride in Afghanistan has been rescued by a charity.
Parwana Malik was sold for the equivalent of £1,600 in land, sheep and cash to a stranger named Qorban so her father Abdul Malik could pay for food in the Taliban-ruled nation.
Parwana had cried day and night before her sale, begging her father instead to go to school to become a doctor.
The horrific deal drew international outrage with all 24 female senators in the US pushing President Joe Biden to take action to prevent child marriages in Afghanistan.
A US-based charity, Too Young to Wed, helped free the girl from the barbaric arrangement and her siblings and mother were moved from their camp to a safe house in Herat - the first time they had even been in a real home after living in tents.
A nine-year-old girl (pictured) who was sold by her father to a 55-year-old man as a child bride in Afghanistan has been rescued by a charity
Qorban was also forced into hiding after a backlash among his own community.
Parwana's father has admitted he has faced heavy criticism and was forced to change his story to locals in a bid to save his reputation.
The nine-year-old was returned to her family two weeks after the sale but the £1,600 debt is still owed to Qorban.
The non-profit's founder Stephanie Sinclair told CNN: 'This is a temporary solution. Really what we're trying to do is prevent girls being sold into marriage.'
After her rescue, Parwana said: 'I am really happy. They rid me from my husband and my husband is old.'
Parwana's mother Reza Gul said she tried to stop the sale but her husband insisted.
She said: 'Of course, I was angry, I fought him, and I cried. He said that he didn't have any option.'
Parwana's buyer Qorban (right), who only has one name, arrived at the family's home with the payment to give her father Abdul (left) the payment
The family will stay in the safe house throughout winter and be supported by the charity.
Marriage under the age of 15 is illegal worldwide but is commonly practised in many parts of the world, particularly in rural Afghanistan.
Marriage may be consummated at the age of nine for a girl in Islamic guidance. Mohammed married Aisha at 6 and consummated the marriage when she was 9.
The situation has become much worse since August when the Taliban seized power, with families driven to desperation.
Parwana's buyer Qorban said at the time of his deal it was his 'second marriage' and insisted he would treat her well.
Parwana and her family had been living in an Afghan displacement camp in northwestern Badghis province for the past four years. They have survived on humanitarian aid and work which earns them around £2 a day.
But since the Taliban took over Afghanistan in August, the country's economy is on the brink of collapse and international humanitarian aid has been put on hold - and the effects are deeply felt by families such as Parwana's who cannot buy basic goods such as food.
Abdul was forced to sell Parwana's 12-year-old sister months ago to help his family survive.
Parwana, her small face peeping out from her pale pink hijab, told CNN previously: 'My father has sold me because we don't have bread, rice or flour. He has sold me to an old man.'
Her father Abdul said he was 'broken' with guilt at the sale of his daughter and was unable to sleep at night. He said he had searched for unsuccessfully for work and borrowed money from relatives - with his wife even begging other camp residents for food - but nothing worked.
Abdul, who felt he had no choice but to sell Parwana to help his family survive, said: 'We are eight family members. I have to sell to keep other family members alive.'
A weeping Abdul told Qorban at the handover: 'This is your bride. Please take care of her. You are responsible for her now, please don't beat her.'
Qorban agreed before grabbing Parwana's arm and led the small child towards the door, with her father watching on.
As they reached the door, Parwana struggled and dug her feet into the ground - but her efforts were futile as she was led away to a car and to her new home.
Qorban insisted he would look after Parwana as his child and said he had a wife already.
'[Parwana] was cheap, and her father was very poor and he needs money,' he told CNN. 'She will be working in my home. I won't beat her. I will treat her like a family member. I will be kind.'
There is much more to this story on the Daily Mail.
to help her family pay off their debts.
Jerusalem terror: Mother walking children to school
stabbed by 14-year-old
December 8, 2021
Female suspect, 14, arrested after allegedly stabbing Jewish mother walking with her children
in eastern Jerusalem.
By Lauren Marcus, World Israel News
An Israeli woman was stabbed in the back in eastern Jerusalem on Wednesday morning as she walked her children to school, with the alleged perpetrator arrested after a police sweep of the area.
Police said that the suspect is a 14-year-old Arab girl, who was taken into custody at a nearby high school.
The 26-year-old victim of the attack suffered multiple stab wounds but is conscious. Authorities listed her as being in good condition at Hadassah Mount Scopus Hospital. The victim’s children were not harmed in the attack.
Wednesday’s attack marked the sixth major terror incident in Israel in the last two weeks, with an ultra-Orthodox man seriously wounded by a stabbing attack on Saturday and the Old City shooting spree in late November which killed a South African immigrant to Israel.
Maor Tzemach, chair of NGO Your Jerusalem, told World Israel News that the attack “is the result of incitement and a lack of response from the Israeli government to the wave of terrorist attacks on the streets of Jerusalem.”
The Israeli government must take decisive action to make it clear that terror will not be tolerated, Tzemach said.
“Prime Minister Naftali Bennett, respond! The homes of the terrorists must be demolished today and the incitement in Jerusalem [must be] stopped.”
It's time to go further than that. It's time to charge the parents of minors who commit terrorist acts. Send them to jail for years, then bulldoze their house. This will give would-be teen terrorists something to think about before they decide to do something evil.
Public Security Minister Omer Bar-Lev said in a statement that the “stabbing attack this morning, which led to the injury of a Jewish mother walking with her children…is a difficult event.”
Bar-Lev praised the “quick actions” of the Israel Police and wished the wounded mother a “speedy recovery.”
“Terrorism has reared its head. Over the past two weeks, we have witnessed an increase in the wave of terrorism, one terror attack follows another, and the government is silent,” Religious Zionism MK Itamar Ben-Gvir said in a statement.
“When more than two weeks have passed and the home belonging to the terrorist who murdered Eli Kay is not destroyed, it’s a failure.”
‘We know the terrorist personally’ – Husband of stabbing victim
December 8, 2021
The terrorist and her family “live right in front of us,” said Dvir Cohen, husband of the stabbing victim.
By Lauren Marcus, World Israel News
The husband of the Jewish woman who was stabbed on Wednesday morning in the eastern Jerusalem neighborhood Shimon HaTzadik (Sheikh Jarrah) revealed that he and his wife are personally acquainted with the 14-year-old Arab girl who is believed to have carried out the terrorist attack.
Dvir Cohen said he and his wife Moriah are neighbors of the suspect. “[The terrorist’s family] knows us,” Cohen told Hebrew language media. “They live right in front of us.”
According to Cohen, the suspect waited until his wife left their home to walk her children to school, and “closely followed her” for a significant distance.
Noting that his wife was walking with five children, Cohen expressed his relief that they were not harmed in the attack.
“Apparently, [after stabbing the victim] the terrorist panicked and fled. If she had continued [the attack] – I do not know how it would have ended and I do not want to imagine. “
Cohen said his wife “feels well” and is in good spirits. “We will continue to live” in Shimon HaTzadik, he added. “This is part of our life’s mission.”
Ynet reported that the terrorist is a member of a family in the neighborhood that is currently fighting an eviction case.
In August 2021, Israel’s Supreme Court floated an arrangement which would see Arab families facing evictions stay in their homes, on the condition that they pay a symbolic amount of rent to the Nahalat Shimon organization, which has ownership rights over the homes.
The families would need to pay some $465 annually, a compromise which would “give us breathing room for a good many years until either the land is properly regulated or there is peace,” according to Justice Yitzhak Amit.
The deal was vehemently rejected by Arab families.
Calling the agreement “oppressive” and a smokescreen for “ethnic cleansing” and “forced expulsion,” the families said they refused to accept an agreement which puts them “at the mercy of settler organization.”
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