Suheir Mohamed is Egypt's latest reported victim of female circumcision, also known as female genital mutilation (FGM). The 13-year-old girl died during an FGM operation inside a clinic in her village in the Nile Delta province of Daqahlia. "Had I known that the operation would lead to her death, I would not have sought to carry it out on her," her father told the independent newspaper Al-Masry Al-Youm. "But two years ago, her older sister underwent the same operation performed by the same physician and nothing bad happened. All people of our village turn to this physician to perform the circumcision for their girls. He is a doctor who treats everything for low fees because he takes into consideration the bad conditions of the poor peasants," added the father. Suheir's mother told the same paper that healthcare professionals in the province informed the family that her daughter had died after getting an overdose of anesthesia before the surgery. "All I want now is to regain my daughter's right and bring the negligent doctor to justice," added the grief-stricken mother. There was no word from the doctor involved. Despite being banned in Egypt since 1996, FGM is believed to still prevail mainly in the countryside. Prominent Muslim and Christian clerics in Egypt have repeatedly announced that the practice is not a religious duty. Nonetheless, the tradition that dates back to the days of Pharaohs, is widely seen as a sign of chastity and a guarantee of the girl's honour in Egypt's male-dominated society. As the latest tragedy shows, the practice is being pursued despite its physical and psychological harms. Experts say FGM puts girls at the risk of bleeding, urinary tract disorder and even mental trauma. FGM operations have reportedly increased in Egypt in recent months due to perceived weakness of state institutions and Islamists' rise to power. Pro-women groups claim that Islamists are planning to lift the ban on the practice whom they see as mandatory for women in Islam. No credible statistics are available on the numbers of girls who might have been subjected to the procedure in post-revolution Egypt. A study, conducted by the Health Ministry in 2003, found out that 94.6 per cent of married women in Egypt had been exposed to female circumcision and that 69.1 per cent of them approved to carry it out on their daughters.
