Prosecution orders detention of Suez FGM victim's mother

Wednesday 08-06-2016 08:09 PM

Community awareness against female circumcision - REUTERS

CAIRO, June 8 (Aswat Masriya) - Egyptian prosecution ordered on Wednesday the detention of the mother of a 17 year old genital mutilation victim in Suez, 4 days pending investigation.

The 17 year old girl, Mayar, died on May 26 during the circumcision operation which led to bleeding followed by a sharp fall in blood circulation.

A judicial source said that prosecution ordered the arrest of the mother and the doctor who performed the operation.

The mother, who denied that it was a circumcision operation, expressed regret over the death of her daughter and said she did not know the operation would claim her daughter’s life.

Late May, Egyptian authorities ordered the closure of the private hospital in Suez where the girl had the operation. The female doctor who conducted the operation is still at large.

According to United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), the practice of female genital mutilation conducted on girls between 15 and 17 has dropped from 74 percent in 2008 to 61 percent in 2014.

UNDP said in a statement late May that "in Egypt 82% percent of female circumcisions are performed by trained medical personnel." The UN called on health professionals "to take a strong stand to stop the medicalization of FGM."

Egypt banned FGM in 2008 but it is still widely practised especially in rural areas.

In Jan. 2015, an Egyptian court issued the first verdict against a doctor for practising circumcision. The doctor was sentenced to two years of hard labour and fined EGP 500 for circumcising a child in Daqahliya which led to her death.

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