Islamic Cleric '6 Yr Old Given To Me As A Gift'

"Afghan cleric arrested after marrying six-year-old child, parents say she was abducted"

"An elderly Afghan cleric has been arrested after he married a young girl, officials said, in the latest case highlighting the scourge of child marriages in the war-battered country.

Mohammad Karim, said to be aged around 60, was held in central Ghor province as he claimed her parents gave him the six-year-old girl as a "religious offering", officials said.


But officials cited the family of the girl — believed to be in shock — as saying that she was abducted from western Herat province, bordering Iran.


"This girl does not speak, but repeats only one thing: 'I am afraid of this man'," said head of the women affairs department in Ghor, Masoom Anwari.


The girl is currently in a woman's shelter in Ghor and her parents are on their way to the province to collect her, the local governor's office said.


"Karim has been jailed and our investigation is ongoing," the governor's spokesman, Abdul Hai Khatibi, said......"


Read entire article @: ABC News