In an unprecedented conviction in the UK, a 39-year-old British woman was found guilty on Thursday of giving a three-year-old girl into the hands of a woman who circumcised her during a trip to Kenya.
According to the jury, Amina Noor contributed to this little girl being subjected to female genital mutilation (FGM) 17 years ago by taking her to Kenya in 2006 and accompanying her to a “clinic” where a woman performed the circumcision.
She was released on bail and will receive her sentence on December 20.
Amina Noor is the first British national to be found guilty of helping to perform a circumcision abroad under a 2003 genital mutilation law that carries a maximum penalty of 14 years in prison.
Patricia Strobino, a representative of the Attorney General’s Office, welcomed this conviction and said she hopes this ruling will “encourage potential victims and survivors of female genital mutilation to come forward” and send a “clear message” to anyone who helps or practices FGM , in the UK or abroad.
The victim, a British citizen, is now 21 years old. When she was sixteen, she reported the facts to her English teacher.
To compile her file – knowing that she was very young at the time of the events – it was necessary to carry out examinations in Kenya and find doctors in the United Kingdom who specialized in these mutilations, noted Patricia Strobino.
An investigation conducted in 2019 revealed that the victim had actually undergone a clitorectomy.
“Cursed”
Amina Noor has been a British citizen since she was sixteen. She was born in Somalia and moved to Kenya at the age of eight because of the civil war.
During the inquest, she appeared “shocked” to learn that the girl had undergone an excision during her trip to Kenya.
In her initial statements, she said she went to this “clinic” with the child and remained at the door during a procedure that she thought was “just an injection.”
“Not only was the procedure performed” on the little girl, but “the defendant discussed exactly the type” of female genital mutilation before bringing the little girl to the clinic, defended prosecutor Deanna Heer during the hearing.
Amina Noor, who lives in the northwest of the British capital, ultimately testified in her trial that she had been threatened with being “cursed” and “expelled” from her community if she did not take part in the little girl’s circumcision.
“It was a pressure that I couldn’t counteract,” she said.
Before Amina Noor, a Ugandan resident in East London was sentenced to eleven years in prison in 2019 because she herself had a three-year-old girl circumcised.
Female genital mutilation (FGM) is a common practice in parts of Africa, the Middle East and Asia, in which a young girl’s clitoris and labia are partially or completely removed.
The procedure, which is often carried out in poor hygienic conditions, can lead to serious complications.
“Although these crimes and practices are widespread in some communities in the UK, it is often very difficult to get people to come forward… because they are afraid of being excluded” or isolated, Patricia Strobino pointed out.
Female genital mutilation has been illegal in England since 1985. The law was extended in 2003 to include Britons and permanent residents who practice or wish to have FGM performed abroad.
The United Nations estimates that at least 200 million girls and women have suffered genital mutilation. 31 countries in Africa, the Middle East and Asia are affected, although the exact extent of the problem remains difficult to estimate.