In Iraq, a new Jaafari marriage law would approve marriages to 9-year-old girls in a bid to satisfy the nation's conservatives ahead of parliamentary elections. In order to please the Shia Muslim majority ahead of parliamentary elections, the Council of Ministers of Iraq have prepared a law that would permit marital rape. Article 101 states men have the right to have sex with their wives any time they want.

Article 104 permits unconditional polygamy and suggests how husbands should spend time with their wives: "In the case of four wives, the husband should sleep at the home of each woman one night each week. In the case of three wives, the husband should sleep at the home of each wife for one night and then choose which wife to spend additional nights with," reads the law, reports AL Monitor.

The Jaafari Personal Status Law was approved by the Council of Ministers in February and the law is awaiting passage in the Iraqi parliament in the last days before the April 30 election.

The current law of Iraq set the legal age for marriage at 18 and it does not permit any special privileges for members of particular religious sects. According to a survey held by UNICEF, more than 24 percent of women in Iraq are married by the age of 18 and almost 5 percent of them are married by the age of 15. However, these rates have increased since the fall of Saddam Hussein, whose secular Ba'ath Party oppressed Shia Muslims for the majority of his rule.

The new Iraqi law that was submitted by the minister of Justice Hassan al-Shammari would cover the Shia citizens of Iraq. Shia Muslims are the majority of the population at 36 million. The law contains 24 provisions, all of which are based on Islamic jurisprudence. In the provisions there are clauses that would prohibit women from leaving the house without permission of their husbands, and grant automatic custody in divorce cases to fathers.

Women aren't the only Iraqis whose rights would be curtailed under the proposed law. Under article 63 of the law, Muslim men would not be allowed to marry non-Muslims; those relationships would only be allowed for a temporary marriage for sexual pleasure.