Yemeni authorities say they are investigating the reported death of an eight-year-old girl from internal bleeding on the first night of her marriage, in a case that has rekindled international outrage over child brides.
Yemeni rights campaigner Arwa Othman said earlier this week that the girl, identified as Rawan, died after she was married to a man five times her age who then had intercourse with her, rupturing her uterus.
Othman said no action has been taken against the man.
Rajeh Badi, an aide to Prime Minister Mohammed Salem Basindwa, said on Friday:”The government is dealing seriously with this issue and it will investigate it and those responsible will be brought to justice.”
He had earlier said that the crime had not been confirmed, and that police had not reported such an incident.
Ahmed al-Quraishi, chairman of child rights’ organisation Siyaj told the AFP news agency that residents from the girl’s home province of Hajjah said she and her family disappeared shortly after the incident.
Some people in the area said the girl was married to the man who took her to a hotel, and that she died on the wedding night from bleeding caused by sexual intercourse.
However, a security official in the area told activists investigating the case that the girl and her father were being held by police, without giving any details, Quraishi said.
Activists also discovered that Rawan’s father had another daughter aged 10, who is also married.
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