Sunday, Jun 26, 2016

Cairo: An Egyptian court on Saturday revoked the release of the mother of a teenage girl, who died of illegal female circumcision surgery, and ordered her reimprisonment, legal sources said.

The Misdemeanour Court in the coastal city of Suez ordered the woman be jailed for 15 days pending investigations with her over suspected involvement in the death of her daughter last month, they added.

On Thursday, an investigative judge released the woman from jail on a bail of 10,000 Egyptian pounds (Dh4,166). The city’s prosecutors appealed the release decision at the court.

Late last month, Mayar Mohammad, a 17-year-old student, died due to complications after having undergone a circumcision operation at a private hospital in Suez. Her death marked Egypt’s first reported death from female genital mutilation (FGM) since 2013.

The victim suffered from severe bleeding and a drop in blood circulation after she was subjected to the illegal procedure, medical officials said. Her mother faces charges of complicity.

Mayar’s death sent shock waves across the nation, and showed that the centuries-old practice is still rife though authorities banned it in 2007.

In recent years, Egyptian authorities have stepped up efforts to stop the FGM, believed to be still thriving in rural and remote parts of the conservative country.

Earlier this year, a disciplinary court in the Nile Delta province of Mansoura scrapped the medical licence of a local doctor after he was convicted in the 2013 death of a girl due to complications from an FGM operation he performed on her.

Last year, an appeals court sentenced the doctor identified as Raslan Fadl, to two years in prison on charges of manslaughter related to the 13-year-old girl’s death and three more months for violating the ban on the practice.

The victim’s father was given a suspended three-month sentence on charges of complicity.

The convictions were Egypt’s first since the FGM procedures became a criminal offence in the country.

An estimated 90 per cent of Egypt’s women have become victims of the practice that includes the removal of all or part of the clitoris. Circumcision is usually done for local girls before reaching puberty.

Experts say that severe forms of FGM can lead to life-long psychosexual problems and troubles related to menstruation, sexual intercourse and childbirth.

In the past, FGM was performed in Egypt by local midwives and even barbers without the use of anaesthetics, using knives or razors.

In recent years, however, some 82 per cent of FGM operations in Egypt have been performed by medical practitioners, according to official figures.

By Ramadan Al Sherbini Correspondent

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