◎ 魏國金

Egyptian authorities have banned a 92-year-old Saudi man from marrying a poor teenage girl 75 years his junior, a judicial source said.

法庭消息來源說，埃及當局已禁止一名92歲沙烏地老翁與一名比他年輕75歲的貧困青少女結婚。

The justice ministry made its ruling under a law designed to prevent wealthy Arabs from the Gulf from snapping up young Egyptian girls and which forbids marriage when there is an age gap of 25 years or more.

司法部是根據一條旨在防範來自波灣國家的阿拉伯闊佬，攫奪埃及年輕女孩的法律做出上述判決，該法禁止年齡差距25歲或更多的婚姻。

The unidentified Saudi holidaymaker proposed marriage to a 17-year-old village girl and offered a dowry of about 28,000 dollars as well as gold jewellery, the source said. "Her parents, who are very poor, accepted," he told AFP.

這位身分不明的沙烏地度假客向一名17歲村落女孩求婚，同時提供價值約28,000美元的嫁妝與黃金珠寶，消息來源指出。他告訴法新社︰「她那一窮二白的父母同意。」

But the justice ministry refused to register to marriage, citing the legislation brought in during the Gulf oil boom.

不過司法部引用這條在波斯灣石油業景氣蓬勃時產生的規範，拒絕註記該起婚姻。

However, according to Egypt’s Al-Akhbar newspaper, the authorities allowed 173 such marriages last year after the foreign husbands paid the equivalent of 8,000 dollars into the Egyptian National Bank.

然而，根據埃及新聞報指出，去年當局准許了173件這類的婚姻，因為這些外籍夫婿支付了相當於8000美元的費用給埃及國民銀行。

新聞辭典

dowry：名詞，嫁妝、天賦。例句︰She had a dowry of ￡20,000.（她的嫁妝有2萬英鎊。）；dowry death（印度陋習）新娘因嫁妝不足而被焚。

bring in︰引進、提出、對…做出判決。例句︰The jury brought in a verdict of "not guilty".（陪審團宣布「無罪」的裁決。）

自由時報-970618

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