A doctor in Egypt has gotten off scott-free
after facing charges for the death of a young girl who died following a female
circumcision surgery.
Jezebel: Earlier this year, Egypt broke some serious ground by arresting
Dr. Raslan Fadl and charging him for manslaughter of Sohair al-Bata’a, a
12-year-old girl who died while he was performing a female g*nit*l mutilation
(FGM) operation on her. Many hoped the case would deter both family members and
doctors from continuing FGM, banned since 2007 and criminalized since 2008.
Unfortunately, both the doctor and the girl’s father who was also facing
criminal charges have been acquitted.
Despite the fact that
Sohair’s parents admitted to taking her to Fadl’s clinic specifically for a FGM
procedure, Fadl claimed that he would never perform such an operation as it was
against religious teaching. He claimed he had removed a wart from her pubic
area and that she had died from an allergic reaction to penicillin. Meanwhile
Egypt’s forensic authority released a report saying that “what happened in the
genital area of the girl was a clear circumcision operation.”
Fadl and Sohair’s mother
reached an out-of-court settlement and Fadl was ordered to pay 5,001 Egyptian
pounds, or almost $700 USD to the Sohair’s mother.
Equality Now, along with
local lawyers plan to appeal the court’s decisions, while activist bodies have
planned to engage with Egypt’s rural community about FGM in an effort to curb
the practice.
Follow me on Twitter and Instagram: @effiongeton
No comments:
Post a Comment