RIYADH, (Reuters) – Saudi Arabia plans to regulate  the marriages of young girls, its justice minister was quoted as  saying yesterday, after a court refused to nullify the marriage  of an 8-year-old to a man 50 years her senior.

The justice ministry aims “to put an end to arbitrariness by  parents and guardians in marrying off minor girls”, Justice  Minister Mohamed al-Issa told al-Watan newspaper, partially  owned by members of the royal family.

Saudi Arabia is a patriarchal society that applies an  austere form of Sunni Islam that bans unrelated men and women  from mixing and gives fathers the right to wed their sons and  daughters to whoever they deem fit.

The minister’s comments suggested the practice of marrying  off young girls would not be abolished. The regulations will  seek to “preserve the rights, fending off blights to end the  negative aspects of underage girls’ marriage”, he said.

A court in the Saudi town of Unaiza upheld for the second  time last week the marriage of the Saudi girl to a man who is  about 50 years her senior, on condition he does not have sex  with her until she reaches puberty.

The minister added that any new regulations would be made  under the provision that the requirements of universal laws were  not binding to religious commandments.

Officials at the ministry could not be reached for comment.

Financial considerations could prompt some Saudi families to  wed their underage daughters to much older men. Many Saudi  clerics, including the kingdom’s chief cleric Grand Mufti Sheikh  Abdelaziz Al al-Sheikh, endorse the practice.

“For them this is allowed by Islamic Sharia law,” lawyer  Abdul-Rahman al-Lahem said.

“Some (clerics) will be against this (plan) but the justice  minister is also a cleric and a member of the kingdom’s top  clerics body.”

Many young girls in Arab countries that observe tribal  traditions are married to older husbands but not before puberty.  Such marriages are also driven by poverty in countries like  Yemen, one of the poorest countries outside Africa.

The U.N. children’s agency UNICEF expressed on Monday its  “deep concern” over the Onaiza court ruling.