Divorced at 10: The Story of Nujood Ali

“I’m a simple village girl whose family had to move to the capital, and I have always obeyed the orders of my fathers and brothers. Since forever, I have learned to say yes to everything. Today I have decided to say no.”

In February 2008, 10-year-old Nujood Ali was sold into marriage by her father to a man in his mid-30s. A dowry of $750 was accepted in exchange for Ali. Her family hoped by selling Ali, they could escape the financial burden of raising children in Yemen. Nearly 32% of girls in Yemen are married before the age of 18 and 9% are married before the age of 15.

Under the agreement with Ali’s father, Ali’s husband, Faez Ali Thamer, promised he would not engage in sexual intercourse with the girl until she began her menstrual cycle, the law in Yemen. Husbands cannot be tried for rape against their wives, despite this law, leaving childbrides vulnerable to assaults.

Thamer began raping Ali starting on their marriage night and repeatedly assaulted her over the next two months. His family physically assaulted her almost daily.

Unable to take any more abuse, Ali escaped Thamer’s home, took a taxi cab to a courthouse in Sana’a, and waited half a day until a judge noticed her.  She asked the judge for a divorce from her husband. “You’re married,?” the shocked judge asked Ali. He took her home for the weekend, issued the arrests of Thamer and Ali’s father, and assigned the case to human rights lawyer, Shada Nasser.

Nasser successfully helped Ali win her divorce from Thamer, the first-ever successful child-bride divorce in Yemen. When the judge asked Ali if she wanted to take a break and return to the marriage in three to five years, the young girl swiftly replied, “No," Nujood said, "I hate this man, and I hate this marriage. Let me continue my life and go to school."

She returned home to her family, but things were not happy the way she hoped. Her younger sister had been sold into marriage to an older man, and Nujood was determined to prevent her from the same fate.

As the poorest country in the Middle East, Yemeni families commonly sell their daughters into marriages with much older men for financial retribution. Although organizations exist in Yemen to combat child marriage, the problem continues to spark concern. Girls in Yemen often cannot afford the costs of school, leaving them illiterate and their families hoping an older man will raise them.

With help from a ghostwriter, Ali wrote a book detailing her marriage and the hell she called life. The publisher agreed to pay her father $1,000 monthly until she reached the age of 18 to help support her. Ali Mohammed al-Ahdel bought a large house for the family and set up a fund to pay for her education. He then rented the lower portion of the house to another family, moved himself and his new wives to the upstairs portion, and forced Nujood to live in a cramped house with her older brother.

Ali reported that he withheld most of the money the publishers paid him, using it instead to purchase two new wives for himself, and accepted dowry for the marriage of her younger sister, Haifa.  He reportedly pressured Ali to demand more money from the book publishers.

Five years after their divorce, Thamer had four wives and 14 children. He gave Ali $20 - $30 per month in alimony.

Ali wanted to become a lawyer, but according to a 2014 article by the Huffington Post, she never finished her education. She remarried and became the mother of two children, and changed her name from Nujood, which means hidden, to Nojoom, which means ‘stars in the sky.”

The 2016 Huffington Post story is the latest information I can find online about Nojoom.  She is around 25-26 years old as of 2024. Please read Nojoom’s book or watch the documentary for more information.

Sources:

https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/199760/i-am-nujood-age-10-and-divorced-by-nujood-ali-with-delphine-minoui/

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/mar/12/child-bride-father-cash-spend 

https://www.unicefusa.org/stories/after-years-civil-war-child-marriage-rise-yemen

https://www.hrw.org/report/2011/12/07/how-come-you-allow-little-girls-get-married/child-marriage-yemen#:~:text=According%20to%20a%20nationally%20representative,percent%20are%20married%20before%2018. 

https://www.huffpost.com/entry/yemen-hillary-clinton_n_581e13dce4b0aac62484ca95