A 12-year-old Saudi Arabian girl has won a divorce from her 80-year-old husband in a landmark case that may see the minimum age of marriage raised in the country for the first time.
The girl, who has not been named, was married to her father's cousin last year in her home town of Buraidah, near Riyadh, Saudi's capital, the Times of London reports.
Her father was paid a $23,000 dowry.
But the girl reached an agreement with her family earlier this week to privately annul the marriage.
The marriage caught the attention of the state-run Human Rights Commission, who provided a lawyer for the girl and pushed for the legal age of marriage to be raised to 16.
"There will be some opposition, of course, but we feel that public opinion has changed on this issue," lawyer Alanoud al-Hejailan was quoted as saying.
Many have weighed into the debate with some judges using the Prophet Muhammed's marriage to a nine-year-old as justification for child brides.
Senior Saudi cleric Sheikh Abdullah al-Manie slammed the comparison, saying the Prophet's marriage occurred centuries ago and could not be used to justify marriages today.
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