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The Egyptian parliament ruled on Saturday that from now on, whoever performs female genital mutilation (FGM) will be imprisoned for three to 24 months, the London-based daily A-Sharq Al-Awsat reported. The new amendment to the law was achieved after a heated debate between the ruling National Democratic Party and the largest opposition party, the Muslim Brotherhood. The MB – comprising 20 per cent of the Legislative Council – regarded the amendment as “contradictory to Islamic law and as imported from the West.” The party’s legislators, however, did not raise their hands during the vote. As many as 90 percent of Egyptian women have undergone circumcision, which, it is argued, has deeper roots in local and African customs than it does in Islam. In July 2007 Egypt’s Health Ministry issued a statement announcing a ban on circumcision of women and girls. The decision followed news of the death of a 12-year-old in the south of the country. She died while undergoing FGM in an illegal clinic. The Health Ministry received backing from Egypt’s highest Muslim authority, the Al-Azhar Supreme Council of Islamic Research. A long-time campaigner against FGM is the country’s first lady, Suzanne Mubarak. During the past year, Mubarak has been calling to amend the child laws to match the Health Ministry ruling. The United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) reports that FGM is performed on three million females every year in Africa. Further information
pdf: http://www.themedialine.org/news/news_detail.asp?NewsID=21760