Iraq to lower age of consent for girls to just 9 years old and allow men to marry young kids: ‘This law legalizes child rape’
World News - November 10, 2024
Iraq is poised to pass a new law that would lower the legal age of consent from 18 to nine, allowing men to marry young girls, according to a new report.
The Shia conservative groups that dominate Iraq’s parliament have proposed an amendment to the country’s “personal status law” that could see a Taliban-style rollback of all women’s rights.
The chance would allow young girls to be married off and put nearly all family decisions in the hands of religious authorities, said Raya Faiq, who is coordinating a challenge against the bill with female Iraqi representatives.
“This is a catastrophe for women,” Faiq told The Guardian. “This law legalizes child rape.”
CTV News (Montreal) - September 13, 2026 Montreal, QC - Former Montreal priest Brian Boucher’s statutory release has been revoked following allegations he viewed child sexual abuse material on public transit. The Parole Board imposed stricter conditions for any future release. Boucher remains detained on new charges and is due back in court in November.
The Canadian Press - September 8, 2026 Montreal, QC - Former Montreal priest Brian Boucher, 64, will remain in custody until his next court appearance on Nov. 23, 2026, after waiving his right to a bail hearing on new charges involving child sexual abuse material. Boucher was previously sentenced to eight years in prison in 2019 for sexually assaulting two boys and was released into the community in 2024. He was stripped of his priesthood in 2020.