SANAA, Yemen, May 28 (UPI) -- A 13-year-old Yemeni girl bled to death on her wedding night after her uterus was torn during intercourse with her 30-year-old husband, authorities said.
Al-Masdar reported online Monday the family of the girl demanded the groom be sentenced to death according to tribal customs, calling on the local sheik to back their claims for justice.
"I call on the laws of God above those of men. … I demand revenge. … I demand the death of my daughter's killer," the distraught mother said Monday when filing her testimony with local police.
Local rights group Saving the Children said the tragedy underscored the need for the state to issue a legal age limit for marriage and to begin a national awareness campaign.
The Aden Times newspaper reported the husband rejected all liability, blaming the tragedy on his late wife's "poor health and refusal to be considerate to his needs."
Save the Children activists warned against Yemen's new trend of marrying off daughters too early, saying "abject poverty and a lack of education" were to blame.
