Hege Storhaug, HRS
Britiske myndigheter anslår at det inngås rundt 8 000 tvangsekteskap i året, og at rundt 1 000 av ofrene er under 15 år. Myndighetene arbeider for tiden med et lovutkast der tvangsekteskap skal forbys ved en egen straffeparagraf.
Journalisten som oppsøkte to imamer med ønske om å gifte bort datteren på 12 år, ”for å unngå at hun ble fristet av en dekadent vestlig livsstil”, ble blant annet fortalt at ”dess yngre” jenta er, ”dess bedre” er det. Aller helst skal de første pubertetstegnene vise seg i hjemmet til ektemannen, skriver Daily Mail
Imam Mohammed Kassamali, of the Husaini Islamic Centre in Peterborough, stressed the need for secrecy with such a ceremony.
He allegedly said: ‘If it (the marriage) was not possible, I would have told you straight away… I would love the girl to go to her husband’s houses (sic) as soon as possible, the younger the better.
‘Under sharia (Islamic law) there is no problem. It is said she should see her first sign of puberty at the house of her husband.
‘The problem is that we cannot explain such things (the marriage) if the girl went tomorrow (to the authorities).
‘The other thing is the underage thing and if tomorrow the girl is, let’s say coerced or forced into this, and she goes and reports it to the police then she will put all of us into the problems.’
He also urged the father to encourage the newlyweds to ‘delay the togetherness’, meaning postpone having sex.
Den andre imamen hjemmehørende i London sa ja til å bistå med seremonien, der man skulle late som om det var en forlovelse og ikke et ekteskap. Imamen ba “faren” forklare datteren at Muhammed giftet seg med et barn, altså er barneekteskap anbefalt.
Abdul Haque, a retired imam who still officiates at weddings at Shoreditch mosque, East London, reportedly agreed to carry out the ceremony after evening prayers on Wednesday.
‘Tell people it is an engagement but it will be a marriage,’ he told an undercover Sunday Times reporter.
‘In Islam, once the girl reaches puberty the father has the right, the parents have the right, but under the laws of this country if the girl complains and says her marriage has been arranged and she wasn’t of marriageable age, then the person who performed the marriage will be jailed as well as the mother and father.’
He explained how the Prophet Muhammad had married a seven-year-old girl before adding: ‘We are his followers, and that is what you have to explain (to your daughter).’
I dag er det ikke forbudt for imamer å gifte bort mindreårige. Britisk straffelov trer i kraft idet en “ektemann” har sex med den mindreårige “hustruen”.
It is not illegal for clerics to perform Islamic marriages, even when one or both of those marrying are under 16.
Such marriages are not recognised in British law, so civil formalities can take place only if both are over 16.
Islamic law allows a couple to have sex after marriage but, as the legal age of consent is 16, a husband can be prosecuted for rape if he has sex with an underage girl.
I fjor ble det avdekket 205 ekteskap med barn. Representant for Islamsk Råd Storbritannia, tar avstand fra praksisen med hovedargument om at “det er forbudt under loven i landet vi bor i”, og legger til at temaet også er omstrid under sharia. Han tar altså ikke avstand fra praksisen med utgangspunkt i at dette er grove overgrep mot barn, det er sexslaveri begått av foreldre og voksne menn, og han sier heller ikke at det burde forbys verden over. Jeg får en klar fornemmelse av en dobbel tunge.
Farooq Murad, of the Muslim Council of Britain, said: ‘We are strongly opposed to it on the basis that it is illegal under the law of the land where we are living and even under sharia it is highly debatable.’
After being confronted, Kassamali said he would not have performed the marriage without the girl’s consent and would have sought legal advice. Haque declined to comment.
The Home Office said: ‘Child marriage is totally unacceptable and illegal. Perceived cultural sensitivities and political correctness cannot and will not get in the way of preventing and uncovering such abuse.’