NGO in Wan Azizah: Do not minimize the issue of child marriage or defend the culprit – Nation



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PETALING JAYA: A Civil Rights NGO Criticized Datuk Seri Dr. Wan Azizah Ismail Wan (pic) for his seemingly conciliatory tone on the incident where a 41-year-old Malaysian married an 11 year old man. The Executive Director of Lawyers for Liberty, Latheefa Koya, has asked the Deputy Prime Minister to call on the public not to "lynch" the man on social networks and to qualify the marriage as "unwelcome". "alleged incident". [19659004] "First, it is impossible to understand what the DPM means by" alleged incident. "

" The culprit himself admitted to marriage and was fined for it.

"Worse yet, he has also publicly acknowledged having coveted the child victim since the age of seven," Latheefa said in a statement released Wednesday (July 18th).

"It seems to be another attempt by DPM to downplay this scandalous affair.

" Earlier, Dr. Wan Azizah had asked that the "privacy" of the family be protected and compared to his experience when her husband was a prisoner.

"It is absurd to talk about privacy issues when a serious sexual crime has been perpetrated on a child," she added.

In a statement issued Tuesday, July 17, Dr. Wan Azizah, also Minister of Women's, Family and Community Development, said her ministry coordinated multiple investigations by various agencies into this incident

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She added that it was not wise to prejudge the issue until all the evidence was collected and the investigation was completed.

"The steps we take to deal with this alleged child marriage incident must be based on evidence and we will only issue a statement on it once. investigation completed, "she said

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Dr. Wan Azizah added that although the ministry understood the anger that this incident caused, it was important not to let his personal feelings dictate the course of action.

"It would be unfair to lynch someone through social media because of what we think about the issue," she said.

Latheefa described Dr. Wan Azizah's appeal to the public not to lynch the culprit on social media as "incomprehensible," noting that the man admitted to marriage.

"Why defend this self-proclaimed pervert by claiming that the public concerned the" lynch "?" she said.

"The public has the right to criticize the actions of the culprit and to call at the end of child marriages in Malaysia, this discussion is important and should be encouraged.

" In addition, it is disconcerting that Dr. Wan Azizah continues to claim that several agencies are investigating the issue.

"The facts are clear and the author confessed:" What is the need for an interminable and cumbersome investigation in this case? "The public rightly wants measures to be taken, no more excuses and slanders," she added.
The issue of child marriages became a hot topic after the 41-year-old man married the 11-year-old girl in Narathiwat, Thailand.

The sharia court in Gua Musang fined RM 1,800 after pleading guilty to marrying the minor child without the court's consent and to having committed polygamy without the consent and agreement of his two wives.

The G25, a group of influential former officials, urged the government to make child marriage a federal crime.

"This poor child remains in the hands of an avowed pedophile, at the international embarrassment of our country," Latheefa said.

"Why was this child not yet rescued by the authorities?

" More surprising is that no arrests were made under the provisions against him. grooming children in the 2017 law on sexual offenses against children, "she added.

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