Saudi teen married off to 86-year-old gets divorce

RIYADH (AFP) - A 15-year-old Saudi girl who was forced to marry an octogenarian has been granted a divorce after a local human rights group intervened, the watchdog said on Wednesday.

The Saudi Human Rights Commission (SHRC) raised the case "after learning of the marriage of a minor girl to an 86-year-old man in Jizan" in south-east Saudi Arabia, the group's head Bandar al-Ayban said in a statement.

Al-Hayat daily had reported that the teenager locked herself inside the bedroom on her wedding night before fleeing the man's home and returning to her parents.

She had been married off to the man in exchange for a dowry worth around US$17,300 (S$21,225), the daily reported.