Divocee Nojoud Ali, 10, has written a book about being a child bride in Yemen
A schoolgirl who was married by the age of eight today launched a new book about her extraordinary ordeal.
Nojoud Ali, now aged 10, is in Paris promoting an autobiography which is set to be a worldwide bestseller.
British publishers are already queuing up for the rights to a story which has been taken up by women’s rights groups worldwide.
Last year a court in Yemen annulled Nojoud’s arranged marriage to a 29-year-old man.
The minimum age for marriage is currently 15 years-old in the country, but parents are allowed to overrule the law if they judge that their daughter is ‘ready’ for marriage.
Noujoud’s strict Muslim family had decided she was, forcing her to go and live with Faez Ali Thameur.
The pair did consummate the marriage, it is claimed.
Yemen, one of the poorest countries in the world, is notorious for its child brides.
Noujoud’s unemployed father, Mohammad Ali Al-Ahdal, told the court he felt obliged to marry off his daughter after receiving repeated threats from the would-be husband and his entourage.
He said was frightened because his oldest daughter had been kidnapped several years earlier and had been forced to marry her abductor.
Noujoud said she was also regularly beaten by her husband. Shatha Nasser, Noujoud’s lawyer, said: ‘Child brides are common in parts of Yemen, but this case received wider attention because it reached court.’
Now Nojoud and her eight year-old sister Hifa are able to go to school thanks to financial donations from human rights activists.
Her case was also taken up by politicians including Hillary Clinton, Condoleezza Rice and the actress Nicole Kidman.
Visiting Pantin, a suburb of Paris yesterday, Nojoud said: ‘Now I want to return to school so as to become a lawyer and help other girls like me.’
‘Me, Nojoud, 10, divorcee’ is published by Michel Lafon.
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