Imam, Lebanese 'Husband' Charged in Australia over Child Marriage
A Muslim cleric was Tuesday charged in Australia with conducting an illegal marriage between a 26-year-old man and a 12-year-old girl.
It follows the arrest of a Lebanese national -- the "husband" -- last week on child sex offences.
Police said the imam, reportedly Pakistan-born, was arrested in Sydney on Monday afternoon by the Child Abuse Squad and charged with solemnization of a marriage by an unauthorized person.
He was granted strict conditional bail to appear in court on April 2.
Last week police revealed that the Lebanese man, in Australia on a student visa, met a 12-year-old girl in the Hunter region north of Sydney in 2013 and allegedly became involved in a sexual relationship with her.
The pair then allegedly moved to Sydney where they continued the relationship, with police claiming the man and child were married in an Islamic ceremony earlier this year.
While child marriages remain prevalent in parts of the world, in Australia 18 is the minimum age to tie the knot.
The "husband" has been charged with 25 counts of sexual intercourse with a child between 10 and 14 years and remains in custody.
Police have not laid charges against the parents of the girl, but investigations are continuing, police said.
11 February 2014, 08:03
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The lunatic Sanni Imam FlameCatcher has done it again, and this time with Geha! When will he ever stop? When he self-explodes in some innocent beings?
11 February 2014, 08:16
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A Muslim cleric was Tuesday charged in Australia with conducting an illegal marriage between a 26-year-old man and a 12-year-old girl.................
This is as sick as calling HA a resistance.
11 February 2014, 09:01
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Helibummer, how on earth did you manage to link this to HA? This shows that the only reason you comment is to keep spreading hatred even with unrelated news. It beggs the question about your background and your real intentions.. Not that i care but man, you are one hell of a disease to this forum.
11 February 2014, 16:00
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I am not by any stretch of the imagination trying to deny that abuses within the Catholic church have happened. They have by a minority of priests (who by definition are evil for doing so) and that is an awful thing and undefensible and yes it was covered up which is also undefensible. Your claim however that ALL catholic priests are paedophiles and do not consider paedophilia or rape as a crime but rather a way to get to heaven is simply insulting, plain wrong and shows much ignorance from your part about catholicism and christianity as a whole. You simply have no idea what you're talking about.
You also mention that it is not common practice to marry underage girls otherwise we would have heard about it. Again wrong because this practice is very common in loads of countries like Pakistan, Afghanistan, most of Africa and many many more. They are very much common practice.
11 February 2014, 20:39
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Are you actually sitting here trying to call the roar intolerant when you just described the holy bible as a crap bible? Really the bible is full of pornography stories? Wow you must be an expert then, please tell me which version of the bible have you read? I'm curious, I'd like to buy it who needs playboy when you have that version of the bible. I think your true colours are obvious when your retaliation to roar is to insult the whole Christian belief and community. Keep it up Mr Tolerant. The only thing I agree with you on is that there are just as many paedophiles in any religion and across any demography.
11 February 2014, 20:44
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@the_roar honestly mate there is no need to be sectarian. It might or might not be fact, I don't know, but your suggestive question is sectarian don't you think? I'm sure all lebanese sects or most likely specific individuals from the various sects have made us ashamed by their actions at one point or another in most countries of the world
11 February 2014, 21:06
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Guys there is no need to criticise religions this way. Remember that most if not all religions are old and the social standards of the times have changed remarkably since then. Come on enough with sectarian hatred cause that is exactly what you're doing
28 February 2014, 18:29
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There is nothing wrong with marrying young girls.
The police should be massacred.
The bible allows marrying female children.
In hebrew, read Deuteronomy 22 28-29.
Girl from infancy till adolecence is what the word there is defined as.
