CAIRO: Young Bodour Ahmed Shaker died in a private medical clinic in Minya while undergoing a genital mutilation operation, reopening the debate over the procedure. The operation is a tradition whereby part of the female genitalia is removed, allegedly to stem sexual desire. There are no benefits or positive effects to the operation, said Ahmed Aliwah, manager of the Circumcision Program at The Egyptian Center for Women s Rights who had worked with around 215 female genital mutilation (FGM) victims. Aliwah told The Daily Star Egypt that 97 percent of the total number of females in six villages in Upper Egypt that he had worked with had undergone the procedure. On the other hand Ahmed Sayed, a lawyer, told The Daily Star Egypt that the issue is totally in the hands of the physicians and their opinions, as in some cases this operation might lead to better sexual harmony between the woman and her husband unlike what is usually said about female circumcision. Sayed also indicated that if this operation is conducted, it is usually under the supervision of the girl's parents and with their full approval. So for those claiming that it is nobody s right to remove part of another person s body without his or her approval, I would say parents are authorized to remove parts of their childrens' bodies if they will cause harm, like tonsils, for instance. Why is it that nobody complains that their parents removed their tonsils when they were young? It is the same concept, Sayed said. But human and women's rights advocates bitterly disagree. Aliwah enumerated three main steps necessary to eliminate this dangerous phenomenon. The first was the fatwa issued by Egypt s Grand Mufti Ali Gomaa on June 23 on Al-Mehwar satellite channel "90 Minutes talk show, clearly stating that FGM is forbidden or haram in Islam, said Aliwah. The second step is to render FGM a criminal offence, and finally Aliwah calls for a more firm position by the Doctors' Syndicate and the Ministry of Health. Hossam Bahgat, chairman of the Egyptian Initiative of Personal Rights, confirmed to The Daily Star Egypt that FGM is not a criminal offence. It is only banned as a medical practice in both public and private hospitals by the authority of the 1996 decree of the Ministry of Health, Bahgat added. The operation is only considered a physical assault for which the physician can be suspended, Bahgat added. Sayed agreed that there is no legal clause dealing with this particular issue. Bahgat criticized the Doctors' Syndicate for their passivity and added that the reason is its domination by strict Islamists whose hard-line views dominate the debate. But Sheikh Mohmoud Ashour, former deputy of Al Azhar and member of the Islamic Research Center told The Daily Star Egypt that circumcision is a habit that has no religious background. Islam does not call for circumcision and any hadiths (Prophet Mohamed's sayings) related to the issue "is considered very weak and cannot be abided by, Ashour added. However, Sayed believes that in Islam it is not preferable, but not completely prohibited to undergo FGM if there was a medical need for this operation. Father Paula Narooz, the patron of the Sam een church of Sharm El-Sheikh, agrees with Ashour, explaining that female circumcision is forbidden in Christianity as well. There s not a single verse in the Bible advocating female circumcision, Father Narooz told The Daily Star Egypt. God, in Genesis 17:10 of the Old Testament tells Abraham that Every man child among you shall be circumcised. It never mentions the word 'woman.' While some Christians in Upper Egypt still believe in circumcision, Father Narooz believes that this is due to lack of Christian cultural knowledge that leads these families to follow the inherited norms of their neighbors. According to a Demographic and Health Survey carried out by USAID in 2000, 98 percent of Egyptian baby girls are subjected to circumcision. While 75 percent of adult women in the survey said they supported FGM, the number was down from 82 percent, in an earlier survey carried out in 1995
