Saudi Arabia is preparing to outlaw the much-criticised practice of child marriage. According to the Saudi Gazette, the justice ministry is considering a proposal to set 18 as the minimum age for females to marry.

However, the move is likely to meet stiff resistance from religious and traditionalist elements.

There was international controversy last year when a Saudi judge 
refused to annul a marriage contract between a 47-year-old man and an eight-year-old girl.

Posted by Brian Whitaker, 13 January 2010.