Woman convicted of subjecting three-year-old British child to genital mutilation

A British woman has been convicted of subjecting a three-year-old girl to genital mutilation. Amina Noor told the court she feared her community was “in denial and cursing.”

Amina Noor, 39, took her three-year-old child to Kenya in 2006 to undergo female genital mutilation. The citizen, who was born in Somalia but also has British citizenship, cited “cultural reasons” in court for the crime she committed. committed, a practice she was also subjected to as a child, writes BBC News.

In 2006, the child was taken in a tuk-tuk to a private home, Amina Noor said, and subjected to female genital mutilation; the girl did not realize what was happening and, according to IndependentI cried all night after the operation.

In 2015, the girl admitted to a teacher that she had undergone genital mutilation, which was immediately reported to the police. In 2019, the girl, whose name cannot be disclosed for legal reasons, was examined and doctors concluded that her clitoris had been removed.

Amina assured the court three times that she had never threatened to have the child undergo surgery, but the woman highlighted the fear she said she felt of being “denied and cursed” by her community if she did not continue to mutilate the child’s genitals. .

The prosecution argued before the judge that the defendant knew that genital mutilation was being performed, even if there was no removal of the clitoris or any form of non-medical surgery.