CAIRO: The Zefta Misdemeanor Court in Gharbeya sentenced 45-year-old Muslim marriage registrar (ma’zoun), to a two-year suspended jail sentence and a LE 1,000 fine for conducting the marriage of 114 girls under the legal age of 18.
Commenting on the landslide verdict, which is the first of its kind, human rights advocate Gamal Eid, head of the Arabic Network for Human Rights Information, told Daily News Egypt that the ruling is an “important step towards the elimination of child marriages.
Eid further added that the phenomenon of marriages of young girls is widespread in Egypt “because it is supported by some Islamists.
He added that Zefta is not the only city known to house ma’zouns who conduct these illegal marriages. He singled out areas like Badrashin and Hawamdeya in Giza.
Last week, the Egyptian Minister of Family and Population Moshira Khattab filed an official complaint to the Prosecutor General against two ma’zouns in Zefa, accusing them of marrying some 364 girls under 18.
Next Saturday the Zefta Misdemeanor Court is expected to issue its verdict in the case of the second ma’zoun, who married 250 girls.
