Thirteen year old Egyptian girl Suhair al-Bata’a died Thursday during a circumcision operation, also known as female genital mutilation (FGM), a practice decried by human rights groups and the World Health Organization.
The girl’s father, farmer Mohammed Ibrahim who had intended for his daughter to have the procedure, told al-Masry al-Youm, “We left our daughter with the doctor and the nurse. Fifteen minutes later, the nurse took my daughter out of the operation room to a nearby room, along with three other girls whom the doctor was circumcising.”
“I waited half an hour, hoping that my daughter would wake up, but, unfortunately, unlike the rest of the girls, she did not,” he recounted.
The girl’s mother, Hasanat Naeem Fawzy, said, “I want nothing but to hold the doctor accountable and to have justice for my daughter,”
According to Al Arabiya, Egyptian police are investigating and have summoned the doctor and ordered an autopsy.
It further reports that the same doctor two years ago circumcised Suheir’s older sister.
A health inspector’s report attributed the cause of the death to “a sharp drop in blood pressure resulting from shock trauma,” according to the family’s lawyer, Abdel Salam.
Egypt Independent writes: “Forensic doctors reported her death was caused by an overdose of anesthetic drugs.”
Egypt’s National Council for Women called it a criminal act of “extreme savagery.” It is calling on the government to investigate and punish those responsible for al-Bata’a’s death.
The United Nations’ Children Emergency Fund (UNICEF) and Population Fund (UNFPA) issued a joint statement condemning the practice, calling al-Bata’a’s death a “sad illustration of the terrible consequences that female genital mutilation/cutting (FGM/C) has on the girl child.”
“On multiple occasions it has been clearly demonstrated that there are no medical or religious justifications for such a practice,” the statement said. “This violation of children and women’s rights should be stopped once and for all.”
Human rights activists have for years warned that female genital mutilation is a “harmful practice.”
The WHO calls it “a violation of the human rights of girls and women,” while Human Rights Watch writes: “FGM is a medically unnecessary and irreversible procedure that damages the health of millions of girls worldwide.”
A 2008 study found that 91 percent of Egyptian women between the ages of 15 and 49 underwent FGM, while 74 percent of girls aged 15-17 years have undergone the procedure which since 2008 has been illegal in Egypt, according to Egypt Independent.
Egypt Independent explains that the “phenomenon has continued unabated in some poorer communities, which see it as a sanitary, physically-beneficial practice.”
According to Human Rights Watch, FGM is practiced in more than 27 countries, mostly in the Middle East, Africa and some parts of Asia, specifically Malaysia and Indonesia.
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