Police in Chad have detained minister Azzai Mahamat Hassane after reports that he married an underage girl.
Hassane’s lawyer has rejected the allegation, saying the minister’s wife is not a minor.
French-language broadcaster RFI quoted a state prosecutor as saying Hassane married the girl in a customary ceremony in 2017, when he travelled to the western town of Nokou with a political delegation.
Under Chadian law, marriage below the age of 18 is illegal. Anyone found to have married a minor, or to have offered a child for marriage, can face prison.
