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  • The Guardian

    The dark secret of Thailand’s child brides

    Underage Muslim girls are regularly forced into marriage with Malaysian men, and the government turns a blind eye
    by Hannah Ellis-Petersen Sep 01, 2018 7 minutes
    Amal Lateh and her son Mushin. Photograph: Hannah Ellis-Petersen for the Observer

    One day this summer, 11-year-old Ayu married 41-year-old Che Abdul Karim Che Hamid at a small pink mosque on the banks of the Golok river in the far south of Thailand. Earlier that morning, Che Abdul Karim and his soon-to-be child bride had travelled over the border from Malaysia into the Thai province of Narathiwat for the wedding. After a short ceremony at 11am and a trip to the Islamic Council offices to get their marriage certificate stamped, the couple crossed back over the border. Ayu was now Che Abdul Karim’s third wife.

    In Malaysia, where men can legally marry girls under 18 if they get Islamic sharia court approval, Ayu’s case caused a national outcry in parliament and protests on the streets. But over the border in Thailand, where the controversial union took place, the response by the government and religious authorities has been notably muted.

    The mosque near Sungai Golok where 11-year-old Ayu married 41-year-old Che Abdul Karim.
    The mosque near Sungai Golok where 11-year-old Ayu married 41-year-old Che Abdul Karim.

    Hashim Yusoff, the imam who married the couple, defended the arrangement: Ayu (not her real name) was “mature” he said, so the marriage was (legal under sharia law). The imam did make Che Abdul Karim – himself an imam in a rural village –

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