Iraqi lawmakers have passed amendments that give courts more authority in family matters, the Associated Press reported, and critics are concerned the move may spark a rise in child marriages. Newsweek contacted Iraq's Ministry of Foreign Affairs for comment via email outside normal business hours.

Family matters - including marriage, divorce and inheritance - will now be under the control of Islamic courts, which some say will permit the marriage of children as young as nine years old

The amendments to Iraq's personal status law allow clerics to rule on marriages based on their interpretation of Islamic law.

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