Imam accused of marrying off underage girls

An Egyptian imam faces a disciplinary hearing over accusations that he married off underage girls. Egyptian law prohibits the registered marriage of men and women under 18, although it does not prohibit informal marriages that are not officially registered. 'The crime comes under the category of human trafficking cases,' said Mohamed Samir, spokesperson for the administrative prosecution authority which monitors imams. A report on the News24 site notes that the cleric who presided over a mosque in the Nile delta province of Al-Gharbiya was implicated in the marriages of 27 minor females. The scourge was highlighted after President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi expressed shock at the number of minors being married.