Nada al-Ahdal is one of seven children born to a low-income family in Yemen. When she was just 10 years old, her parents accepted an offer from a wealthy, Saudi-based Yemeni to marry her off, i.e. to sell her to him.
In response, Nada ran away from home to stay with her grandmother and uncle, a graphics designer for a local TV station.
Were it not for him and his media skills, the world would not know her story, which sadly, is not uncommon in Yemen.
Yemen is ranked last of 135 countries in the 2012 Global Gender Gap Report.
Human Rights Watch reported on discrimination and violence against women as well as on the abolition of the minimum marriage age of fifteen for women. Instead, the onset of puberty (interpreted by some to be as low as the age of nine) was set as a requirement for marriage.
Publicity about the case of ten-year old Yemeni divorcee, Nujood Ali brought the child marriage issue to the fore, not only in Yemen but worldwide, in addition the voice of Nada al-Ahdal.
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