By Ben Thompson
Female Genital Mutilation (FGM) is a practice in which a girl or woman’s external genitalia is partially or totally removed. Though it is most prevalent in African countries such as Sudan and Egypt, it is a global problem that affects 3 million women each year.
In Britain, it has been a criminal offence to perform this ‘operation’ or to aid anybody in carrying it out since 1985. However, it is only very recently that anybody has been convicted under this law.
A 37-year-old mother has been found guilty of mutilating her 3-year-old daughter. Her 43-year-old partner was on trial for the same offence, but received an acquittal. When her verdict was read out in court, the mother from East London wept in the dock.
The anonymous woman was warned of a ‘lengthy sentence’ by Mrs Justice Whipple. As it currently stands, this offence is punishable by 14 years in prison.
This conviction comes after four previous attempts to enforce the law ended in acquittals for the accused.
FGM campaigner Aneeta Prem admitted the process to conviction was difficult – “People are scared to come forward, professionals are scared to come forward to report this. The fact that we have a conviction today is a really historic moment.”
Home Secretary Sajid Javid condemned the practice and welcomed the conviction on Twitter:
I welcome this landmark conviction. Female Genital Mutilation is a sickening, depraved, form of child abuse & we will do all we can to ensure all perpetrators are brought to justice https://t.co/Rbb3sbGGEv
— Sajid Javid (@sajidjavid) February 1, 2019
Medics had alerted police after treating the young girl, who had lost a substantial amount of blood due to her injuries. The mother claimed ‘she fell on metal and and it ripped her private parts’.
The mother was born in Uganda, but has been living in the UK for several years. FGM is illegal in both countries.
She will be handed a prison sentence on the 8th March – a sentence that campaigners against the gruesome practice hope will be the first of many.
By Brontë Schiltz Content warning: contains mentions of sexual assault. Just over a month ago, we passed the ten year anniversary of Jade Goody’s death. On March 22nd 2009, at the age of just 27, the television personality and mother of two young children succumbed to cervical cancer. In the months following Goody’s death, gynaecologists…
By Georgina Hurdsfield JAWS kicked off their UK tour last night with a sold out show in Glasgow at King Tut’s Wah Wah Hut. With the release of their new album The Ceiling, we are excited to hear some new material live. The hit Birmingham band consists of Connor Schofield, Eddy Geach and Alex Hudson, who…
By Ben Thompson Last night, the Royal Exchange Theatre hosted an event to showcase the talents of ten theatre students, performing seven extracts from a variety of pieces which they had been given just an hour to rehearse. Playwright Simon Stephens – also a honorary professor at the Manchester Writing School – hosted the event,…
By Jack Warne As we approach the second anniversary of the Manchester bombing, which took 22 lives and injured up to 119 others at the Ariana Grande concert at the MEN on the 22nd of May, it feels once again like time for reflection, as the city and its various communities continue to remember and…
Leave a reply