The first charges in British history over female genital mutilation have been brought against two men – one of whom is a doctor.
Dr Dhanuson Dharmasena, 31, who was working at the Whittington Hospital in north London, and 40-year-old Hasan Mohamed, who is not a medic, will face charges under the Female Genital Mutilation Act.
It is claimed the doctor from Ilford, east London, carried out the procedure on a woman who had given birth at the hospital’s maternity unit in November 2012.
A Metropolitan Police spokesman said: ‘The charges follow an investigation by officers from Islington borough after an allegation was reported to police via a third party. Likely to be someone helping in the operating room.
How can any parent let their child go though this torture, because that’s what it is, it’s about time Briton started to prosecute these people doing the act.
Never mind who they are, where they come from, or what religion they are put the doctors and their parents in jail.
More at Daily Mail the Gazette and the Standard
The photos are bad so i’ll leave it up to you to view them.
See the photos here
What is Female Genital Mutilation.
The tradition originated in ethnic groups spread throughout 28 African countries, including Egypt, Ethiopia, Somalia and Sudan, and spread across the world as groups emigrated.
The circumcision or ‘cutting’ is carried out for cultural reasons, often because it shows a girl’s virginity on her wedding night.
FGM is defined as any partial or full removal of a woman’s outer sexual organs. It can also involve sewing up the vagina.
In cultures where the tradition is common, ‘uncut’ girls can be thought more likely to be promiscuous, unhygienic, and prone to diseases such as HIV/Aids.
The procedure is traditionally carried out by an older woman with no medical training and without any anaesthetic or antiseptics, risking infection.
Their basic tools include knives, scissors, scalpels, pieces of glass or razor blades. Iodine or a mixture of herbs is placed on the wound to tighten the vagina and stop the bleeding.
Prosecutors in today’s case have not specified what type of procedure is alleged to have been carried out.
It is thought as many as 66,000 women in the UK have suffered FGM with 24,000 girls under 11 also at risk
The council heard on Wednesday, March 19, that the number of women and girls living with FGM in the UK is likely to be around 170,000, almost three times the existing official figures.
It is believed that 65,000 girls aged 13 and under are at risk of mutilation in this country.
In spite of the UK law in 1985 banning what was then termed ‘female circumcision’ there has not been a single successful prosecution in the country.