The British child brides: Muslim mosque leaders agree to marry girl of 12... so long as parents don't tell anyone
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British Muslim mosque leaders are
agreeing to carry out secret marriages with child brides as young as 12
in the UK, it emerged today.
In an undercover investigation, a
Shi'te mosque leader agreed to marry a 12-year-old girl so long as she
was a willing participant.
A Sunday Times journalist visited
the Husaini Islamic Centre in Peterborough - the 'first Shi'te mosque in
the whole of Europe' - posing as the father of a 12-year-old girl.
Secret marriages: Some Muslim
religious leaders consent to marry a girl of 12 if she consents - and
her parents keep it a secret (stock image)
Child bride: An Imam at the
Husaini Islamic Centre in Peterborough agreed to the marriage of a
12-year-old girl - but only if she consented to the nuptials
According to the newspaper, the
reporter was told by Imam Mohamed Kassamali that 'under sharia [Islamic
law] there is no problem' in marrying a 12-year-old.
But while he declared Islamic Law
dictated a girl should see 'her first sign of puberty at the house of
her husband', he admitted they would all get in to trouble if she went
to police saying she was forced into the marriage.
He told the parents he would need to
meet the bride and groom to be sure they were happy to go ahead with
the marriage and urged them to delay having intimate relations until
they were older.
When approached by the newspaper he
insisted he would only have carried out the ceremony if it was allowed
under British law and if both parties had not been coerced into the
marriage.
Campaigners argue that children can't decide whether they want to be married (posed by model)
But another retired Imam, Abdul
Haque, who worships at the Shoreditch Mosque in east London, agreed to
carry out the ceremony on the condition the parents kept it a secret
from the authorities.
The Imam urged the undercover reporter to lie about the marriage and keep it a secret.
Haque said: 'Tell people it is an engagement but it will be a marriage.
'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 then warned: 'Nobody should know
about this and the girl must not complain... If she talks in school they
will take the girl, social workers will take her and afterwards you and
I will be in trouble.'
The current British law allows for
Imans to carry out religious marriage ceremonies of consenting brides
and grooms aged under 16 so long as they don't have sex until they are
16.
Under Sharia law both parties must
to consent to the marriage and they can then live as man and wife and
have sex irrespective of age.
Secret: Another retired Imam -
who worships at the Shoreditch Mosque in east London - was happy to
marry a 12-year-old girl but only if her parents told no-one about it
But
under British law, the legal age of consent is 16, so a husband could
be prosecuted for rape if he has sex with a girl under that age - even
if it is his wife.
But campaigners claim that the
current law doesn't protect young Muslim people from being forced into
marriages - stating a child is not capable of agreeing to marriage.
Courts
now have the power to issue forced marriage protection orders (FMPOs)
against a person suspected of trying to force a person into marriage and
breach of the order is treated as contempt of court.
Prime Minister David Cameron has
announced plans to make enforced marriage a criminal offence to help
prevnt underage Sharia marriages.
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