An eight-year-old Saudi girl who was sold into marriage by her father has been given a divorce after an international outcry over the case, according to Saudi media.

The marriage of the girl to a man reportedly in his 50s was annulled in out-of-court settlement overseen by a new judge in the city of Onaiza, after the original judge in the case refused to bend to pressure to grant the divorce, several newspapers reported.

Riyadh newspaper said the settlement was reached after the intervention in the case by an unidentified "important personality."

The girl's father had sold her last year to the man in exchange for a dowry.

When her mother found out, she petitioned the court for a divorce for the girl.

The judge twice rejected her case - though he stipulated that the marriage could only be consummated after the girl attains puberty.

An appeals court sent the case back to the judge suggesting he reconsider, but he ruled again last week against divorce.

The case garnered strong criticism from international rights groups and foreign diplomats raised the issue quietly with the Saudi government, according to AFP sources.

UN Children's Fund executive director Anne Veneman said earlier last month month that the child's rights were being violated.

"Unicef joins many in voicing concern that child marriage contravenes accepted international standards of human rights," she said.

While child marriage is not widespread in Saudi Arabia, the traditional practice has been condoned by some clerics who say it is supported in Islamic teachings.

Saudi judges, who are all religious clerics, have frequently upheld child marriages based on their interpretations of Islamic shariah law.

But last week at least two committees of the country's legislature, the Shura Council, were discussing a new law that would set the minimum marriage age at 18.