this shouldn't have happened to anyone

(forced marriage, beatings, rape) much less A TEN YEAR OLD

for her courage and bravery i salute Nujood Ali (and her lawyer shada nasser as well).

man, look at how beautiful those two are!

10-year-old girl's inspiring story opens eyes at Glamour awards

BY SEAN EVANS
DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITER

The most talked about honoree of the 2008 Glamour Women of the Year awards was a small child of 10. Nujood Ali, who flew all the way from her native Yemen for the ritzy Carnegie Hall gala, was married off by impoverished parents to a 30-year-old man who raped and abused her.

Her father, who drew an annual salary equivalent to $900, had 18 children and couldn't afford to clothe and feed Ali so he gave her up for marriage. Though her older husband promised to wait years before becoming intimate with his child bride, he beat her and raped her on their wedding night. Ali had enough.............

Two Voices against Child Marriage and for Education

Nujood Ali, a 10-year girl old from Yemen who courageously escaped from and filed for divorce from a forced marriage, and her lawyer, Shada Nasser, addressed an audience at UNIFEM headquarters today. Both are to receive a Woman of the Year Award from Glamour magazine.

Nujood Ali was married off to a man in his 30s when she was only nine years old. Many little girls in her native Yemen and around the world suffer this kind of fate — but Nujood wouldn't stand for it. After suffering repeated beatings and rape from her husband, she ran away and went directly to the courthouse, asking for a lawyer who could help her. Human rights lawyer and feminist Shada Nasser took on her case free of charge and made history this April by winning Nujood a divorce from her husband, sending a message to the rest of Yemen that marrying girls at such premature ages would not be tolerated. Nujood, now 10, is back at her family's home on the outskirts of Sana'a and has said: "All I want to do now is finish my education. I want to be a lawyer."

Most experts say education is crucial in eradicating the cultural practice of child marriage. The Girls World Communication Center (GWCC) was founded by volunteers in 1998 to help promote female schooling in Yemen, where 65 percent of women are illiterate. ........

picture: DeCrow/AP

Nujood Ali, a 10-year old Yemeni girl, and her lawyer Shada Nasser leave the stage after being honored at the Glamour Women of the Year awards.