Saudi Arabian girl, 8, seeks divorce

The girl, who still does not know she is married, lives with her parents in the town of Unayzah, 135 miles north of the capital Riyadh. The marriage had been arranged in secret by her father.
She is preparing to start the new year at primary school in the town, which is located in the conservative Najd region of the country - the spiritual homeland of the Islamist Wahhabi movement that has long dominated the kingdom.
According to the Arabic-language newspaper Al-Watan, which reported the case, the divorce suit has been filed by the girl's mother.
Her relatives have contacted human rights groups in the kingdom to try to arrange legal help to annul the marriage.
However, the husband has refused, saying he has done nothing wrong.
Saudi Arabia's justice system is based on a conservative interpretation of Sharia law, but also incorporates some aspects of tribal custom from the people of the Arabian peninsula.
Polygamy is common and arranged marriages involving pre-adolescent girls and older men are occasionally reported.
The rate of child marriage rates in the Middle East is lower than in parts of Africa and south Asia, but there is a particular problem in Saudi Arabia and Yemen.
In April another eight-year-old girl won a divorce after fleeing from her husband, aged 28, and arriving in the main court in the capital Sana'a.
A United Nations report on child marriage in 2005 found that 100 million girls were expected to marry by the age of 18 before 2015. The worst countries for child marriage were Niger, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Afghanistan, India and Bangladesh.