No to Islamic pedophiles no to childhood marriage 41-year-old man married the daughter's 11-year-old mate

No to Islamic pedophiles no to childhood marriage
41-year-old man married the daughter's 11-year-old mate
A 41-year-old man in Malaysia has taken a third wife - an eleven-year-old mate to her daughter, writes BBC.

The news has triggered strong reactions - and the authorities have promised to investigate.

"We have sent staff to the girl's parents to investigate what has happened," said Wan Azizah Wan Ismail, Deputy Prime Minister of Malaysia, according to AFP.

A social media storm has blown up in Malaysia after the news that a 41-year-old man, a self-appointed Muslim imam, who also has two wives, married a third time, now with an 11-year-old girl.

According to Malaysian law, one must be 18 years old for marriages, but women can already get married at the age of 16 if permission is given to local authorities.

But another exception is made for the country's great Muslim population. If a sharia tribunal gives permission, even younger girls can enter marriage, Reuters writes.

READ MORE: Critical brochure on child marriages is stopped
But the authorities are now investigating the marriage. According to news agencies, no new marriage shall be registered anywhere, either in court or other authorities.

According to the The Star newspaper, the man says that it's more about a so-called "temporary marriage" when he agreed with the girl's parents to "reserve" her for a marriage that is legally included when she reaches 16.

Childhood marriage usually
To the Malaysian newspaper The Sun, the girl's father says that he and the 41-year-old are united according to local custom "nikah gantung" when they marry symbolically but for a certain period do not live together. Only later is traditional wedding.
"He was willing to marry my daughter because he wanted to help me when I'm poor," said the girl's father to the newspaper.

According to several media reports, the girl's parents are to be poor rubber workers, and the father is employed by the 41-year-old man.

The 41-year-old man is upset about the resurrection.

"There are groundless accusations directed at me in social media just because I marry my third wife," he said, adding that he will get stuck in his decision to marry her.
"Accept it"
Even the girl, who has never gone to school, pronounces herself for the newspaper.

"I accept what my parents and my husband have agreed to wait five years to marry because I'm only eleven," she says.
READ MORE: The minister's new promise of childhood marriage

The news of the marriage became known when one of the men's two other wives angered over the third marriage issue and ventured their feelings on Twitter.

The man already has six children aged five to eighteen with his first two wives and lives in the state of Kelantan in northern Malaysia against the border with Thailand, from where the 11-year-old girl and her family are reported.

Malaysian children's rights activists demand legislative changes to end childhood marriage. They say that 16,000 girls under 15 in the country are already married.