It’s about time. The new draft law criminalizes female genital mutilation (FGM) with penalties to up to seven years in prison.
This is despite a survey in Egypt, conducted last March, that indicated women approved of FGM more than men do, likely because of their dedication to their Islamic faith. The practice, which many insist is cultural, is actually religious, justified in Islamic texts (cf. Umdat al-Salik e4.3, Ahmad Ibn Hanbal 5:75, Abu Dawud 41:5251). It has been steadily on the rise in the U.S., in Europe and in fact globally:
The World Health Organization (WHO) estimates that more than 200 million women and girls have undergone FGM worldwide and that every year three million girls are at risk of being cut.
Sudan criminalized the practice back in May. Now it remains to be seen whether either Sudan or Egypt will comply to anti-FGM laws. It is likely that they will not, because of religious devotion. There have also few cases of successful prosecutions for FGM, which is done secretly, making prosecution all the more difficult.
“Government’s position considered momentum in criminalising FGM: National Council for Women,” by Nihal Samir, Daily News Egypt, January 24, 2021:
The Egyptian government’s position on female genital mutilation (FGM) can be considered momentum in criminalising the practice in the country, according to Maya Morsi, President of the National Council for Women (NCW).
The National Committee for the Eradication of FGM, co-chaired by the NCW and the National Council for Childhood and Motherhood (NCCM), hailed the Egyptian cabinet’s approval on a draft law submitted by the committee regarding FGM.
The committee added that legal procedures have been put in place to study the practice at the Ministry of Justice. It includes amending some provisions of the Penal Code issued by Law No 58 of 1937, to establish a deterrent punishment for FGM crimes.
The draft law has seen amendments in Articles (242 bis) and (242 bis A), with the amendment to Article (242 bis) stipulating, “Whoever performs female genital mutilation by removing part of [the girl/woman’s] genitals shall be punished with imprisonment for no less than five years.”
It also stipulates, “[If] amending, mutilating, or inflicting injuries to those organs [takes place], and if that act results in a permanent disability, the penalty shall be rigorous imprisonment, for no less than seven years, but if the act leads to death, the penalty shall be rigorous imprisonment, for no less than 10 years.”
In this article, the amendment outlines the punishment as rigorous if the person who performed the circumcision was a doctor or nurse. If their crime resulted in a permanent disability, the penalty shall be rigorous imprisonment for not less than 10 years, but if the act leads to death, the punishment is rigorous imprisonment, for not less than 15 years and not exceeding 20 years….
Keith O says
The Egyptian women who are in favor of FGM say it’s OK because their husbands tell them it is!
This is a small step away from barbarity.
gravenimage says
This *is* barbarity, Keith.
Halal Bacon says
well said
Alfredo says
It is outrageous that such misogyny is still practiced in the name of the most “feminist religion” according to apologists in the XXI century.
When will Westerners open their eyes to the fact that was is alleged to be “the religion of peace” and the “most feminist” is neither peaceful nor feminist? But is, sad to say, the most brutal ideology?
Ade Fegan says
Well it’s been illegal in the UK ..
has been for decades .. still now muslims have been prosecuted though ..
it would be islamophobic to do so
It will be interesting to see if Egypt enforces the law
(unlike the sharia compliant pussies in the UK)
Michael Copeland says
Saudi Arabia abolished slavery, remember?
They still have slaves. It was just PR.
Wellington says
Salient point.
Put another way, placing a band-aid on a mortal wound does no good.
Jeff Gonez says
+1
revereridesagain says
Whatever is mentally compelling Muslim women to not only approve of but aid and abet this monstrosity goes far deeper than “devotion” to their barbaric “faith” and is much more primitive and ugly. They had to go through this so their daughters are going to have to as well? In any reasonably sane society they would be fighting tooth and nail to keep this from happening to another generation.
Men who think women are only good for one thing will always find women who have been brainwashed into agreeing, alas.
Clarino says
I don’t understand why medical staff are not obliged by law to report evidence of FGM on a minor, and why the parents of such a minor are not prosecuted, and the child removed from their care. I would make this a strict liability offence – no excuses, no exceptions.
b.a. freeman says
the law *sounds* good, but as noted above, it won’t be enforced. it’ll just be a tool for pious islamic liar to “prove” that there are “good” islamic governments when talking with credulous leftists.
gravenimage says
Egyptian government approves draft law to criminalize female genital mutilation
…………….
Didn’t Egypt *already* criminalize FGM?
Here’s a story from 2016:
“Egypt: New Law Enhancing the Penalties for FGM Approved by Parliament”
https://www.loc.gov/law/foreign-news/article/egypt-new-law-enhancing-the-penalties-for-fgm-approved-by-parliament/
Yet 90% of girls are still mutilated there. I *hope* this new law will finally make a difference, but I won’t be holding my breath.
mortimer says
So much for the hadiths where Mohammed decreed it. Bit by bit, piece by piece, Islam is being eroded.
Linde Barrera says
To Mortimer-I sure hope you are right, mortimer.
Just a Concerned Citizen says
It could well be that women in Egypt approve of the practice due to the fact that it was done to them, and they’re “just fine, thankyouverymuch”. The thought of their daughters escaping the same treatment might be difficult to accept.
Alarmed Pig Farmer says
A deputy chief of a major city fire department told me of when Somalis arrived in the tens of thousands in his town. He said they rolled to private residences when 911 was called by neighbors or siblings during the anguished cries of pain and agony. The firemen would go in to be treated to the spectacle of a young girl with a bleeding crotch being constrained by her father, holding a steak knife. Such calls became so regular that the firemen threatened to not rescue the girls because 2 years later they’d roll to the same address to confront the same father with the same steak knife.
Finally, the city’s black mayor cut a deal with the local Imams. The girls would be taken to a medical practice operated by a Moslem doctor in a clinic across the street from the big hospital just outside of downtown. All nice and neat, nice and quiet. But not so nice for the girls taken to the clinic to have their clitorises lopped off.
Progress.