A doctor in Egypt is set to stand trial on Thursday in relation to the female genital mutilation
(FGM) of a child who died of complications. It is the first attempt to prosecute over a procedure banned in Egypt since 2008.
Thirteen-year-old Soheir al-Batea, from the small northern village of Diyarb Buqtaris, succumbed to an allergic reaction to penicillin on June 6, 2013, allegedly after being cut by Dr. Raslan Fadl, according to forensic reports seen by Equality Now, an international rights NGO that has pushed for the prosecution.
The teenager’s death has formed what is being seen as a test case on the issue in a country where four in five young women reportedly undergo the procedure, despite the ban.
Some Egyptian women and feminists say they hope the prosecution of Raslan Fadl will start a precedent to enforce laws against the practice. But others say the share of girls who undergo the procedure behind closed doors at home — often in less sanitary conditions — may grow. At present, UNICEF estimates that around 70 percent of procedures are carried out surreptitiously at a medical clinic.
http://america.aljazeera.com/articles/2014/4/22/egypt-to-try-firstdoctoronfemalegenitalcutting.html
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