Cairo – A retired doctor and the parents of a 12-year-old girl who died after female genital mutilation (FGM) surgery are to stand trial in Egypt, with child rights campaigners calling for jail terms to deter others from the illegal practice.
Egypt’s Prosecutor General Hamada El-Sawy this weekend ordered the referral of the trio to the criminal court.
Doctor Abdel Fadeel Rashwan and the parents of Nada Hassan Abdel-Maqsoud were arrested last month after her death at a private clinic in Manfalout, close to Assiut in southern Egypt, but then released on bail, causing public outrage. “It is a serious step towards putting the defendants behind bars,” said Randa Fakhr El Deen, executive director of the NGOs’ Union Against Harmful Practices on Women and Children, hoping a tough punishment would discourage other cases of FGM.
Genital cutting of girls was banned in Egypt in 2008 but a 2016 survey by the U.N. Children’s Fund found 87% of women and girls aged 15-49 had undergone the ritual, which typically involves the partial or total removal of the external genitalia.
In 2016 the practice was made a felony, meaning doctors who perform the procedure can be jailed for up to seven years and anyone requesting the operation jailed for up to three years.