The Jerusalem District Court ordered police on Monday to free the mother of a teenage girl taken into custody last week following her daughter’s illegal wedding.
Early Friday morning, police raided an illegal wedding held on the roof of a building in the predominantly haredi neighborhood of Meah Sharim in the capital.
The raid took place after police were notified that the bride was just 13 years old, with the teenage groom also below the legal age of marriage.
The legal age for marriage in Israel is 18, though under extenuating circumstances, family courts are empowered to permit minors as young as 16 to get married, if a social worker clears the request.
The Knesset raised the legal age of marriage under normal circumstances last month from 17 to 18, over the opposition of haredi lawmakers.
After police shut down the illegal wedding, the bride’s mother, the bride, three other minors, and two women involved in the wedding were detained for questioning.
Authorities say the bride was reported missing by her father two months ago, and suspect that her mother hid her until the wedding.
While most of the suspects were freed Friday afternoon shortly before the beginning of the Sabbath, the bride’s mother was kept in custody through the Sabbath.
Despite the court’s order to free the mother on Friday, police kept her under arrest, pending their appeal of the court ruling.
On Sunday, however, the Jerusalem District Court rejected the police’s request to keep the mother in custody, and ordered her immediate release.
