Source: Thompson Reuters Foundation

A girl wearing a hijab waits at the Shah Alam stadium during celebrations of Maulidur Rasul, or the birth of Prophet Muhammad, outside Kuala Lumpur, January 14, 2014. REUTERS/Samsul Said
JAKARTA, Aug 3 (Thomson Reuters Foundation) – A Malaysian man charged with raping a 14-year-old girl has avoided prison after he married her in a case that has sparked anger from rights groups and calls for a ban on child marriage and justice for victims of sexual violence.
Ahmad Syukri Yusuf, 22, was charged with statutory rape of the girl late last year and faced up to 30 years in jail and whipping for the offence, but he later married the teenager under Islamic law, according to prosecutor Ahmad Fariz Abdul Hamid.
The prosecutor said a court in Kuching, in Malaysia’s eastern state of Sarawak ruled there was no need to proceed with the case after Ahmad Syukri submitted a marriage certificate and the girl withdrew the complaint.
Delivered last week, the court ruling prompted fury from women’s rights groups.
“It is very common for rapists to marry their survivors, especially when they are underage, to cover up their crime,” Kuala Lumpur-based Women’s Aid Organisation spokeswoman Tan Heang Lee told Thomson Reuters Foundation.
“There is usually a high risk in this kind of cases that these girls will be subject to a lifetime of sexual abuse. Her marriage is basically an extension to rape,” she added. Read more →