UPDATED ON:
THURSDAY, JUNE 28, 2007
16:43 MECCA TIME, 13:43 GMT
 
NEWS MIDDLE EAST
Egypt outlaws female circumcision
About 97 per cent of Egypt's women have
undergone circumcision
 
Egypt has banned all female circumcision, the widely-practised removal of the clitoris which just days ago cost the life of a 12-year-old girl in the country.
 
Hatem al-Gabali, the health minister, decided on Thursday to ban every doctor and member of the medical profession, in public or private establishments, from carrying out a clitoridectomy.
Any circumcision "will be viewed as a violation of the law and all contraventions will be punished," a ministry official said.
 
A survey in 2000 said the practice was carried out on 97 per cent of the country's women.

'Loophole' closed

The health ministry's step cancelled a 1996 provision to the law which had permitted circumcision "in situations of illness" should doctors advise it.

The measure to outlaw the practice entirely came after a girl died while undergoing the procedure at a private medical clinic last week.

 

Budour Ahmed Shaker died in the southern province of Minya, south of Cairo, after she was given a heavy dose of anaesthetic, security sources said.

 

She had been taken to the clinic by her mother but died before she could be transferred to a hospital.

 

The practice, which affects both Muslim and Christian women in Egypt, is believed to have begun in the time of the pharoahs.

Source: Agencies
Related:
Egypt court permits face-veil use  
(09 Jun 2007)
Tools:
Send  Email article
Print  Print article
 Send your feedback
Top news
Lebanon opposition gains ground
Timeline: Crisis in Lebanon
Who's who in Lebanese politics
Lebanon unrest: Insiders' views
Pro-West bloc claims Serbia win
MIDDLE EAST news
Lebanon opposition gains ground
Lebanon unrest: Insiders' views
Timeline: Crisis in Lebanon
Who's who in Lebanese politics
Gaza power plant shuts down