Viral video of Yemeni child marriage called into question

[Shamlawar Khurasani]

http://stream.aljazeera.com/story/201307281912-0022941

[Shamlawar Khurasani]

http://www.majalla.com/eng/2013/07/article55243853

A Deception Comes Undone
A misguided protest against child marriage in Yemen turns into another form of exploitation

KHALEEJ blog: Our bloggers dive for pearls of wisdom on the Arabian Peninsula. ‘Khaleej’ follows the economic, political and social trends in this fast-developing promontory of the Arab World.
Screen grab from a YouTube video showing Nada Al-Ahdal.
Screen grab from a YouTube video showing Nada Al-Ahdal.

On July 8, the media was taken by storm when Nada Al-Ahdal, an 11-year-old schoolgirl from Yemen confessed on video that she had run away from her parents’ home to escape the horrors of a forced marriage.
Plagued by unrest, poverty and deep social divisions, Yemen, the most populous and poorest country in the Arabian Peninsula, has battled issues related to child marriages for well over a decade. Activists are working tirelessly toward the establishment of legislation that would ensure children’s protection and still fall in line with clerical interpretation of the Holy Scriptures on marriage and consent.

Needless to say, Nada’s bold testimony hit a nerve, sending shockwaves across Yemen’s human rights circles and the media, as once again the country found itself caught in a storm of controversy.

Within days of the uploading of her video, Nada’s story had gone viral. At time of writing, her YouTube video has been viewed 7,772,156 times. News organizations across the world vilified her parents for having attempted to sell their little girl to a man who was willing to stoop so low he would consider a marital union with a child. Her uncle, Abdel Salam Al-Ahdal, a montage and graphics technician at a TV station, was held up as a hero for having offered Nada a safe haven in his home, away from harm and abuse.

In the video, translated by MEMRI, a Middle East media watchdog, Nada talks of her escape from her parents’ home after they tried to marry her to a much older man. She said: “I can’t live with them anymore. Enough! . . . What about the innocence of childhood? What have the children done wrong? Why do you marry them off like that?”

Recalling how her 14-year-old aunt endured a year of abuse at the hands of her older husband before she was driven to suicide, Nada defiantly warned she would never let herself become another statistic on child marriage.

“My mother, my family, believe me when I say: I’m done with you, you’ve ruined my dreams,” she declared, decrying the threats her parents made against her person if she resisted their decision.

In truth, child marriage is a very serious issue indeed—one which deserves and requires much attention because it involves a harrowing and despicable form of abuse. Any allegation or report of such abuse should be treated with care and diligence, so as not to allow false reports to trivialize the issue.

Too busy reporting on a trend very few news organizations previously thought to investigate, many forgot to do any fact-checking on Nada’s allegations. As it turned out, they should have.

Alerted by Seyaj—Yemen’s most prominent children’s rights organization—the authorities immediately assigned a task force to investigate the claims of child abuse, not willing to take Nada’ statement at face value.

The interior ministry confirmed that its preliminary investigation has established that, contrary to her claims, Nada had never approached the authorities with regard to her abuse.

Moreover, for the past 18 months, Nada has been living with her paternal uncle, Abdel Salam Al-Ahdal. She never ran away to his house, as she stated in the video—she was already under his care.

Most disturbingly yet, Seyaj says its investigations indicate that Nada had been coerced by her uncle into making the video as part of a scam to turn the young school girl into Yemen’s new Nujood, gain fame and make a profit. Nujood was a young girl who rose to fame in 2008 when, at the age of 8, she bravely refused to tolerate abuse from her husband and asked a judge to grant her a divorce.

Well-versed in the way the media operates, Nada’s uncle sought to cash in on his niece’s fabricated plight, hoping she would become the country’s new poster child against child marriage.

Now in the care of the Yemen Women’s Union, the authorities are looking to transfer Nada back into her parents’ custody, away from the prying eye of the media.

Ramizia Al-Eryani, the president of the Yemen Women’s Union said that Nada had been pressed to falsely accuse her parents. She said she was angry with the media, as their irresponsible reporting would harm real victims of abuse by raising some questions over the veracity of others’ claims. She worried that it would not only empower abusers, but potentially prevent victims from coming forward out of fear of both the media and social stigma.

Seyaj issued the following statement on Thursday: “Nada’s claims that she was to be married are not real. Nada tried to exploit the public’s opinion for personal and financial gain, hoping that, like Nujood before her, her story would grant her status. Nada is not a victim of child marriage!”

Officials from the interior ministry also categorically rejected Nada’s claims, declaring that the evidence points to the same conclusion: Nada lied.

[Shamlawar Khurasani]

http://yemenpost.net/Detail123456789.aspx?ID=3&SubID=7060&MainCat=5

Yemen child marriage scandal; news organizations continue to propagate Nada's false allegations


*
Yemen Post Staff
Earlier this month, Nada al-Ahdal uploaded a video on Youtube in which she claims to have ran away from her home after her parents sought to force her into an unwanted marriage with a man much older than her.
The 11-year old's testimony almost immediately turned viral as media organizations and activists stood horrified before such cruelty. How could Yemeni parents be so heartless as to willingly condemn their child to a lifetime of abuse and misery, using Islam to justify their criminal actions, they all asked, never questioning Nada's intentions or even caring to check her story.
While newspapers after newspapers from the Guardian to the Independent, the Inquisitor, Google, Yahoo UPI, all chose to feed the Nada's phenomenon by validating her account through their media coverage only the Yemen Post chose to ignore the hype in search of the truth.
Why much of the press chose to see the worse in Yemen' society as the sensational always sell more newspapers than the truth these days, the Yemen Post chose to investigate Nada's claims, only to find that her story stands on empty.
There is not a shed of truth to Nada's allegation of child marriage.
Her so-called bravery was but a scam aimed to grant her instant fame and recognition. Coerced by her uncle, Abdel Salam al-Ahdal, a montage and graphics technician at a TV station; if Nada is a victim it is of her uncle's greed, not her parents.
Al-Ahdal believed he could turn Nada into another Nujood and thus financially benefit from her fame. Nujood rose to fame in 2008 when at 8-years old she bravely refused the abuse of her husband and asked a judge to grant her a divorce.
It is important to note at this stage that while child marriage is a very serious issue indeed, one which will require careful attention by the state and the religious authorities, western media have often blown facts out of proportion for the sake of readership, often not understanding Yemen tribal traditions, thus misleading the public.
While girls as young as 8 years old can in tribal settings be promised in marriage, the union itself will not be celebrated or consummated until the girl is of acceptable age.
It is this misunderstanding in semantic which has led the media to report unjustly on Yemen's child marriages when really they are but symbolic unions, a promise made between two families, in keeping with traditions.
And if in truce young girls have been forced into unwanted union much too early by their families, such cases are not the norm, only the exception.
Yemenis do care deeply for their children and alleging that parents could so easily dispose of their girls as if they were commodities is preposterous.
Yemen Women Union has confirmed that Nada has been under its care since Sunday after the authorities decided to remove her from uncle's care. Nada has been looked after by her paternal uncle for the past 18 months.
She never actually ran away as she claimed in her video because she was not living with her parents at the time of the alleged force marriage.
Ramizia Al-Eryani, President of Yemen Women Union told the Yemen Post that Nada was being looked after and that she expected she would be returned to her parents this coming Saturday.
Ramizia said she was very angry toward the news community as the publication of fallacious statements takes away from Yemen's real issue and hinder rights organizations to make progress on the ground.
She insisted that if indeed Nada had felt concerned over her safety she could have sought help much differently than by taking her story to the media.
Rights activists have also deplored the speed at which Yemen was vilified, its society branded barbaric over the unproven allegations of one little girl, whose parent failed to warn against Crying Wolf.
Quick to pass judgment, news organizations failed to look beyond Nada's video testimony, so determined to be the first to report on a good story.
While newspapers will soon be thrown away, Nada and her family will have to deal with the aftermath of her lies and clumsy claim for fame.
Al-Ahdal's family has seen its name drag through the mud over several continents; Nada's family will have now to bear accusatory looks as no retraction will ever wash away the cloud of doubt which will now follow in their footsteps.
In a bid to end the publication of false reports of abuse , Siyaj Child Rights organization issued an statement in the press in which it unequivocably rejects Nada's allegations.
"Nada's claims that she was to be married are not real. Nada tried to exploit the 's public's opinion for personal and financial gain, hoping that like Nujood before her story would grant her status.
Nada is not a victim of child marriage!"
The Interior Ministry also rejected Nada's claims as unfounded after an investigation established that her parents had neither sought nor planned to marry her off.
Despite officials' best efforts and the publication of official statements by Yemen's most prominent child rights organizations the media have chosen to perpetuate Nada's fabrications, something the Yemen Post strongly condemns.
“Credibility is key and media, mostly international, did not investigate when reporting about the Nada marriage claims. Journalists need to look at the complete picture before reporting on such a sensitive issue,” said Hakim Almasmari, the editor of the Yemen Post.
We talked to all the concerned sides over the last week before reporting. The concerned sides will publish statements confirming the investigative results we reached,” he added.

[khushal]

So basically she made it all up to have an excuse to move to the city.

[Shamlawar Khurasani]

She is Yemens own Malala