Egypt – A man was reported to the police by his former wife who found out that the father had tricked his three daughters, all below the age of 18, into FGM (Female Genitalia Mutilation) operations.
An unnamed doctor is accused of carrying out the procedure, which involves the removal of the outer layers of female genitalia and sometimes the clitoris.
The crime, having turned severe when it was outlawed in 2016, placed the father under immediate trial for the fact he had lied to his little girls by telling them they would be getting their COVID-19 vaccine shots.
The three girls were heavily sedated then the procedure was done where the outer layers of the female genitalia and even the clitoris is removed, meant to curb a woman’s urge similar to sterilization but more for the stimulus.
Egypt’s public prosecutor ordered the trial to occur immediately which, under Egypt’s current laws, any citizen who performs the FGM procedure, faces prison for 3 to 15 years. Any person who brought any women for the procedure faces up to 3 years in jail for being an accomplice.
In the country, it’s mostly deaths that are brought to focus when speaking of the FGM procedures as these were the one that brought light on a very old problem that had plagued Egypt for a long time.
In the case of 12 year old Nada Hassan Abdel-Maqsoud, she died on the procedure as the 70 year old doctor performed it without anesthesia. The matter only turns sour in remembrance as the very doctor who was arrested, now walks free awaiting trial and saved from persecution as COVID-19 ravages the world.
Another case in 2013, was 13 year old Soheir Al-Batea who died at the hands of Doctor Raslan Fadl, when he was proven guilty in 2015, but only released after 3 months and without any cancellations to his medical license. It was said he apologized to the girl’s family which was why he was given leniency by the court and taken 2 years off of his sentence, as controversial as it was.
“It’s really shocking that authorities such as judges and the police continue to treat FGM cases with extreme leniency here. The sad reality is that most of them do not take cases seriously because they believe that it is for the benefit of the girl to undergo it to protect her chastity,” Executive director of the Women’s Centre for Guidance and Legal Awareness, Reda el-Danbouki,said.
