A
16-year-old girl secretly took legal action against her parents in
Australia to escape an arranged marriage in Lebanon in what a
magistrate has called an ''act of great bravery,” Australian newspapers
reported on Friday.
The dailies quoted Federal magistrate Joe Harman as saying that he
was satisfied there was a psychological risk to the girl unless the
court intervened.
"The young person's evidence makes very clear that she has expressed
to her parents that she does not want to go to Lebanon and does not
want to marry the person proposed," he said.
"It is not the right of any parent to cause their child to be
married against their will, whether in accordance with Australian law
or otherwise," he added.
Harman praised the girl's bravery in using the legal system to challenge her parents' authority.
He restrained the girl's parents from removing her from Australia
and from harassing, threatening or intimidating her, or questioning her
about the court proceedings, the newspapers said.
He ordered that they surrender her passport to the court.
He also ordered the girl be placed on the airport watch list and Australian Federal Police maintain an airport watch for her.
However, Harman said he was not criticizing any culture that had
arranged marriages. ''The arrangements proposed should not be judged or
criticized from a Western perspective, but must be viewed through the
eyes of those who live and appreciate that culture.”
The orders were made just two weeks before the planned wedding in
Lebanon in April. Details of the case have been revealed in a judgment
published this week.
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