The father of 12-year-old Omar Hassan recently announced that he would be marrying his 11-year-old cousin, Gharam.
The Washington Post reports that the news comes soon after father Nasser Hassan’s eldest son was married – and he later recalled that he had decided to ‘double the joy’ at the wedding by announcing their engagement.
While the guests at the wedding didn’t consider this strange, the family released engagement photos of the pair dressed up as a bride and groom, and child activists are outraged.
In Egypt, people must be 18 years old to be legally married, but that does not prevent them from getting engaged earlier.
Reda Eldanbouki, who is the head of the Women’s Center for Guidance and Legal Awareness in Egypt, has reported the incident to the National Center for Childhood and Motherhood, which is a government agency. He has called the engagement a ‘crime’.
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Eldanbouki’s main concern is that the engagement “will only lead to an early marriage in which the girl will be deprived of equal chances to education, growth, and will isolate her from social spheres”.
Meanwhile, the father has faced a lot of backlash since the announcement, and has responded to the negative press.
He defended the engagement, saying “Omar has always loved Gharam so much that he used to say he will marry her when they grow up.” He also insists that they will be married at the legal age of 18.
According to UNICEF, 17 percent of girls are married before the legal age in Egypt, and most of these marriages happen in rural areas.
