Iraq wants to allow marriage to nine-year-old girls
A newly proposed age of consent law would allow older men in Iraq to marry girls as young as nine.
Ultra-conservative Shiite Muslim parties have proposed halving the country's current age of consent.
If the initiative is adopted, the national “personal status law” will be repealed, the Mirror writes.
The new law will further restrict women's rights in Iraq, losing their rights to divorce, inheritance and custody of children.
The law passed its second reading in the Iraqi parliament on September 16.
The government said the move would bring the country closer to a strict interpretation of Islamic law.
Iraqi authorities also said lowering the age of consent from 18 to 9 would protect young girls from "immoral relationships."
Activists are urgently trying to prevent the adoption of this law.
Although they have previously managed to reject it, there now appears to be a risk that the ruling coalition, which has a parliamentary majority, will accept it after all.
