Nada Al-Ahdal is a human rights activist from Yemen known for escaping two different child marriage pacts which her parents had arranged for her. In 2013, she posted a YouTube video, decrying child marriage showcasing her story and her experience, which quickly went viral and prompted coverage of Yemen’s continued practice of child marriage.
She managed to influence the comprehensive national dialogue conference in Yemen to pass and apply a law of criminalizing the marriage of minors under the age of 18.
Nada continues with her remarkable cause with the foundation named after her and has managed to teach, provide scholarships and raise awareness to numerous girls in local schools so far.
Child marriage is a multifold issue but one of its aspects is certainly the religious legitimacy that it is given so that people cannot question it. Nada would like to state:
“A middle-aged, 50 years old man, who married a 7-year-old girl and raped her at the age of 9 is a psychopath. We cannot call him “great”, his name does not even deserve to be mentioned in the history books.”