Costa de la Luz
Prison in Spain for Mauritanian father and mother of girl forced to marry at 13
By h.b. - Mar 11, 2010 - 2:26 PM
email this article
Sentences have been confirmed in the Supreme Court
The father of a girl of Mauritanian origin, Mohamed Ould Abdallahi, who forced his daughter to get married and have sexual relations with her husband, has been sent to prison by the Supreme Court in Spain.
He was given a two and a half year prison sentence found guilty of causing injury and domestic violence to his daughter.
The upper chamber did however reduce the punishment which had been handed down by the Provincial Court in Cádiz on the mother and the new husband of the girl, named with the initials I.M.A. The mother saw her punishment reduced from 17 to 12 years in prison.
The daughter was born in Cádiz in 1992 to parents of Mauritanian origin, and was brought up under the care of a Spanish family, until in 2005 when she was 13, she was forced to marry a 41 year old man from Mauritania by her genetic father. She lived with him for a time in Mauritania and then returned to Spain because of ill health.
The court considered it proven that when back in Spain her husband raped her with the consent of her mother, when the father was out of the house. The victim told the court that her parents had threatened to whip her if she did not comply with her marital obligations.
The case caused widespread interest in the African community, as the family said that the Spanish judiciary did not understand their customs, and the parents even had the support of the Mauritanian embassy in their posture.