The Egyptian public prosecutor announced that he had sent the father of three circumcised minor girls to court, as well as the doctor who allegedly carried out the operations. "The doctor went to their house, under the cover of administering a vaccine against the coronavirus," said the public prosecutor's office on Wednesday.
"They lost consciousness and when they woke up, they were shocked to find their legs tied and to experience pain in the reproductive tract," he added. A medical report then revealed "excision of parts of their external genitals," the same source said.
Banned since 2008
The investigators pointed out that the doctor had practiced general anesthesia on the young girls, all aged under 18, according to the same press release. Excision has been banned in Egypt since 2008, but the practice remains widespread in this conservative Muslim country where many believe that it preserves the chastity of young women.
"In 2016, we strengthened the law to ensure that excisionists are sentenced to up to seven years in prison," said Reda el-Danbouki, director of the Orientation Center, on Thursday. and Cairo-based legal information. However, he believes that the judicial and police authorities are still treating the issue with "extreme leniency".
90% of 15-49 year olds are circumcised
According to Reda el-Danbouki, some arrested doctors are released "almost immediately" afterwards and are not prosecuted. In January, Nada Hassan Abdel Maqsood, a 12-year-old girl, died after undergoing female circumcision, triggering anger on social media and the media.
According to a 2015 report from the United Nations Children's Fund (Unicef), almost 90% of Egyptian women and girls between 15 and 49 have been circumcised. Unicef then considered that the practice constituted a "violation of human rights and a form of violence against women and girls".
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12-year-old girl dies after being cut in Egypt
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