Authors
Vasudha noticed the growing problem of mis/disinformation online after studying New Media at ACJ in Chennai and became interested in separating facts from fiction. She is interested in learning how global issues affect individuals on a micro level. Before joining Newschecker’s English team, she was working with Latestly.
A screenshot of an article titled ‘8-Year-Old Child Bride Dies From Internal Bleeding After Her Wedding Night,’ is going viral on social media platforms. The screengrab also carries the photographs of a young girl- seemingly dressed in wedding attire, and an elderly man with a long flowing beard and a skull cap. The article has been authored by one ‘Harsh Pardeshi,’ and is being shared as a recent incident. Newschecker found that the viral screengrab to be misleading.
An Instagram user @chemicalburnol shared the viral image on June 12, 2022. The post has amassed over 4,200 likes and more than 302 comments so far.
Several other Facebook users also shared a screenshot of the article.
Links to such posts can be found here, here and here.
Child Marriages In Yemen:
According to a UNICEF report published in February 2022 on Child Marriage in Middle East and North Africa (MENA) revealed that out of the total 650 million child brides across the world, 40 million are in the MENA region with the highest numbers are in Sudan and Yemen. Another report by UNICEF stated that Yemen is home to 4 million child brides. Of these, 1.4 million married before age 15. The report identified poverty and economic insecurity as the primary risk factor for child marriage. Notably, there is no legally prescribed minimum age for marriage in Yemen. The Yemen parliament tried to pass a law to set a minimum age for marriage, twice once in 2009 and in 2010, but it was rejected by the Sharia Legislative Committee which termed it “un-islamic,” resulting in rampant child marriages in the country.
Also Read: Viral Image Of Indian Flag Being Set On Fire Is From Pakistan, Not India
Fact Check/Verification
A simple Google keyword search for “8-year-old child bride Harsh Pardeshi” led us to the article published in The Tatva– digital media portal founded in 2020. As per the article, the incident took place “last week in the town of Meedi in Hajjah territory in northwestern Yemen.” Notably, Pardeshi had posted this article in the website around three months ago, indicating that the alleged incident took place around March, 2022.
Newschecker’s investigation further led us to multiple news reports from 2013, elaborating about the incident. A report published in Reuters, dated September 10, 2013, titled ‘Child bride in Yemen dies of internal bleeding on wedding night: activist.’
The report stated that the head of Yemen House of Folklore and a leading rights campaigner, Arwa Othman said that a girl was married to a 40-year-old man late in the town of Meedi in Hajjah province in northwestern Yemen. Othman said, “On the wedding night and after intercourse, she suffered from bleeding and uterine rupture which caused her death. They took her to a clinic but the medics couldn’t save her life.”
The report added that a local security official in the provincial town of Haradh, denied any such incident had taken place, two other Meedi residents confirmed the incident and added that the local tribal chiefs had tried to cover up the incident when news first broke, warning a local journalist against covering the story. A Gulf News report, dated September 9, 2013, also quoted the director of Criminal Investigation in Harradh district, Mosleh Al Azzani dismissing the report and saying the girl’s father “came with his daughter and denied the marriage and death of his daughter.”
When the news broke out in 2013, several news outlets reported on the same. You can read here, here and here.
But despite initial denials, a Reuters report on the incident, dated September 13, 2013, quoted Rajeh Badi, an aide to former-PM Mohammed Salem Basindwa, saying, “The government (of Yemen) is dealing seriously with this issue and it will investigate it and those responsible will be brought to justice.”
We also attempted to ascertain the authenticity of images of the girl child and man featured in the Tatva report and conducted several reverse image searches on Yandex which led us to a report in oblongmedia.net on the same issue, carrying the image of the girl and clearly stating that “Photo for illustrative purposes courtesy of delhi4cats.”
On further image search, we came across a video uploaded on Russian website, smotrim.ru, uploaded in 2012. At the counter of 0:22 second, we found the viral image of the young girl seemingly dressed as a bride. The description of the video roughly translates to, “The UN Children’s Fund has published shocking statistics: according to experts, every third girl in the world was forced into marriage as a child. Such examples are still found in the CIS.”
Further, we identified the man seen in the report to be one ‘Ebrahim Yusuf Kazi.’ As per a report by BBC, dated November 2, 2011, Ebrahim Yusuf Kazi was sentenced to two years in prison for abusing young girls when he was an Imam at Broad Street mosque in Swindon, UK.
Conclusion
A 2013 incident of an 8-year-old Yemeni child bride bleeding to death on her wedding night is being shared out of context. The photos of the child bride and the man used in the report were also found to be unrelated to the incident.
Result: False Context/ Missing Context
If you would like us to fact-check a claim, give feedback, or lodge a complaint, WhatsApp us at 9999499044 or email us at checkthis@newschecker.in. You can also visit the Contact Us page and fill out the form.
Authors
Vasudha noticed the growing problem of mis/disinformation online after studying New Media at ACJ in Chennai and became interested in separating facts from fiction. She is interested in learning how global issues affect individuals on a micro level. Before joining Newschecker’s English team, she was working with Latestly.
