19-year-old jailed for refusing arranged marriage

A traditional court in Wau of Western Bhar el Gazal State has sentenced a 19-year-old girl to four months in reformatory prison for rejecting a husband chosen for her by the family.

Mary Akwac Michael, mother to a seven-month-old baby is serving her sentence in Wau women’s prison.

On the seventeenth of this month, she will have spent a month in prison.

Akwac said her aunt is forcing her to marry a man she doesn’t love, saying she has ruined her life by getting impregnated by an irresponsible person.

Speaking to Eye Radio on Friday, she said her unnamed aunt has resolved to choose a husband for her after she got pregnant out of wedlock.

“She told me, you ruined your life and that she will decide who I should marry. But I told her that I did not want this person, but she did not listen to me and decided to lock me up in the house before I went to prison,” she said while speaking on phone from prison.

“He (arranged husband) has three wives, one of whom is a Kenyan, who left his children for him. And he ran away and two others in the village, so he cannot take care of his children.”

“I told him I don’t want to marry you, so he decided that my aunt would solve the problem, and she asked me, how could you refuse this marriage I was prevented from going out and I was locked up with a bucket of water and a cup And they beat me.”

Wau Women’s Prison Director Lieutenant Colonel Ayom Chol confirmed that the young lady has stayed for almost a month in the facility.

Ayom added that Mary will spend months in prison if she fails to pay 30 thousand pounds that the local court imposed as a disciplinary measure.

The prison official explained that the paternal aunt of the girl wanted to get her married, in order to recover the dowry that she paid to her brother to help marry Akwac’s mother.

Colonel Ayom said the detained young woman, who is being forced into marriage – was a student of Bahr el Ghazal University.

She revealed that the teenager’s aunt also approached her with the intention to persuade the girl to accept the marriage so that she could recover her money.

“She came and asked me to persuade her to decide on marriage. She said she found a man who can take responsibility for her,” said Ayom.

“She said that the girl’s mother’s dowry was paid from her marriage and she wants to get the money back.”

But the officer said the girl insisted on staying in prison and completing her sentence rather than being forced into the marriage.

“The girl refused to marry, and the martial court decided to imprison her for four months If she had not paid a disciplinary fine of thirty thousand pounds, but even the girl said that she would rather stay in prison after the end of her sentence than go to her aunt’s house.”

Ayom said several people are in jail on orders of the local chiefs.

Early this week a 19-year-old girl in Northern Bahr el-Ghazal State filed a police case against her father in Aweil East County, for forcing her to marry a man she doesn’t know.

He narrated that, Abuk Michael Dut took the legal measure after her father told her she would be married off to someone she was not familiar with.

Akol says the state Minister of Gender came to the young girl’s aid and assisted her file the case against her unnamed father.