Polygamy

I am confused; the BBC are paying a lot of attention to the polygamy/child abuse case in Texas and rightly so. However they pay no attention to any of the cases that are reported out of Islamic countries, where girls as young as nine are married of to adult males. This act is justified as Mohammed himself married Aisha when she was nine. Here is just the latest such story; this one is from Saudi Arabia:

"Riyadh, 18 April (AKI) - A 23 year old girl, forced to marry at ten in Saudi Arabia was ordered to pay the equivalent of 16,750 euros to obtain a divorce from his husband, according to Saudi daily al-Watan.

The girl, deemed as a 'rebel' by a judge in the capital, Riyadh, was forced to marry a 67-year-old man due to her family's economic problems, in exchange for a dowry of 100,000 Saudi riyals (16,750 euros).

According to the judge, the girl does not have any grounds for divorce, but if she wants to divorce the husband, she must return the dowry given to the family 13 years ago.

The father of the girl, regrets having married her daughter so young, saying "I made a mistake by forcing my daughter to marry. If she wants to re-marry, it will be her decision who to do it with."

The father of the 23-year-old woman also pleaded for help in order to collect the 100,000 riyal dowry that must be returned.

"I ask those who have the possibility to help my daughter to find the money needed to return the dowry. I cannot help her because our family does not have the economic means," concluded the father."

Double standards? Or just another example of the way the BBC loves to beat up the US.