Perpetrators of FGM sentenced to prison in Egypt: The ruling is important but insufficient
On February 19, a court in the city of Aswan, south of Egypt, sentenced a doctor to three years in prison for performing the FGM procedure. “The ruling is important but insufficient,” women lawyers said.
ASMAA FATHÎ
Cairo – Every day, women are subjected to all forms of violence. In addition to physical, verbal, and psychological violence, “female genital mutilation (FGM)” is one of the torture methods used against women. The practice of FGM was banned in Egypt in 2008 but the country still has one of the highest rates of prevalence in the world. On February 19, a court in the city of Aswan, south of Egypt issued a historic ruling. The court sentenced a doctor to three years in prison for performing the FGM procedure against an 8-year-old girl and her grandfather to three years in prison for forcing his granddaughter to undergo FGM.
Similar rulings were issued before
In May 2020, a doctor and father were also sentenced to three years in prison for forcing three girls to undergo FGM. As a result of the appeal against the ruling, the sentence was reduced to six months. In September 2021, the Shubra El Kheima’s criminal court sentenced two men to prison for committing an FGM offense on a teenage girl, which caused her permanent injury. The nurse who performed the procedure was sentenced to 10 years in prison, while the girl’s father was given a maximum sentence of three years in prison with work.
Egypt toughened penalties for FGM
In April 2021, Egypt toughened penalties for female genital mutilation (FGM), imposing prison terms of up to 20 years in a push to end the ancient practice. The Egyptian Parliament also increased the maximum sentence given to medics involved in FGM from practicing from five years up to seven years.
“Education is important”
Lawyer Dalia Zachary, who has worked for many NGOs and human rights organizations in Egypt, stated the ruling is an important one and that it will also affect other cases on this subject. In order to confront this phenomenon in a radical way, lawyer Dalia Zachary believes that education is important “Health and sex education in schools is important to raise awareness against FGM.”
“The ruling is important but insufficient”
Lawyer Maha Abu Bakr thinks that the ruling is important and influential, and the judge who issued it deserves appreciation. “The grandmother of the 8-year-old girl filed a complaint against her husband for forcing her granddaughter to undergo FGM and against the fake doctor, who performed the FGM procedure. The ruling is important but insufficient.”