Parliament increases age of marriage to seventeen

The Islah Bloc in Yemen's parliament been trying to block on amendment to the marriage law to raise the legal age to 18.

Yemen’s Parliament approved an amendment increasing the age of marriage for women to seventeen, striking down a move by the Islamic Sharia Codification of Law Committee to reduce the age of marriage to fifteen. This is in contrast to a government suggestion that the female age of marriage be increased to eighteen years.

The Islamic Sharia Codification of Law Committee had refused to raise the age of female marriage, confirmed by the Yemen Observer in their last issue.

In a Wednesday session, the parliamentary blocs of the Social Party, the Nasserite and the GPC bloc, with the exception of some members including Ahmed al-Khohlani and Mohamed al-Sharfi, agreed to the passing of the law, but the Islah bloc, with the exception of Abdul Razzaq al-Hijri refused to raise the age of marriage.

The head of the Socialist bloc in parliament, Aidroos al-Naqeeb, told The Observer in the last issue that parliament would cancel the commission’s decision, which refused to increase the age of marriage.

The deputy-chairman of the Islah bloc, Zaid al-Shami, demanded there not be a link between age and time of marriage, but rather a link to women’s physical and mental maturity.

Islah MP Mohammad al-Hazmi said in a publication distributed in the Hall of parliament said increasing the age of marriage would encourage the dissolution of females.

The Minister of Justice Dr. Ghazi al- Aghbari condemned the publication, saying it contained words not worthy of parliament or the government.

The Speaker of Parliament Yahya al-Ra’ai suggested submitting al-Hazmi to investigation because of the publication, and for the receipt of complaints from the Palestinian and Iranian embassies accusing al-Hazmi of unfairly attacking them. 

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