A United Kingdom (UK) court has found a woman guilty of aiding in a Female Genital Mutilation (FGM) exercise in Kenya.
Amina Noor, who has her roots in Somalia, was jailed for handing over a British girl for FGM during a visit to Kenya.
The 40-year-old was sentenced to a seven-year jail term on February 16, 2024, at the Old Bailey in the UK.
According to Sky News, she had been convicted in October 2023 for helping a person carry out FGM on a three-year-old British girl during a trip to Kenya back in 2006.
The victim, now 21, first opened up about the incident to her English teacher at school when she was 16. In turn, the teacher helped report her case to authorities in what culminated to Amina’s arrest.
FGM victims are usually granted anonymity once an allegation is reported to police, whatever the outcome is of the investigation and prosecution.
It is illegal to perform the practice in the UK and this also applies to taking abroad a British national or permanent resident for FGM or helping anyone trying to do the practice.
According to a police statement recorded by the teacher, Amina first took the minor to Kenya back in 2006 when she was just three.
Amina sentenced
The Somali-born convict had the child’s entire clitoris removed, which falls under type 1 FGM according to the National Health Service (NHS).
In her defense during the trial, Amina disclosed that she feared being “disowned and cursed” by community members which prompted her to take part in the ritualized cutting.
Being an FGM victim herself, the defendant described what had been done as “sunnah”, meaning “prophetic tradition” in Arabic.
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She further claimed it was a cultural, historic, and religious practice.
In the ruling, the judge described the offence as abhorrent and horrific.
On his part, detective Andy Furphy, whose team led the investigation, said that he hoped the sentence acts as a real deterrent to those who choose to perform the rite on children.
“We know FGM can be a taboo subject, which is rarely discussed within families and communities – we must build trust with those impacted so we can protect victims,” he said.
British media reports revealed that the prosecution is the second ever recorded in the UK for a person accused of assisting an FGM offence committed abroad.
In 2019, a Ugandan woman from Walthamstow, east London, was sentenced to 11 years in prison for mutilating a three-year-old girl.
FGM in Kenya
According to statistics from the United Nations (UN), 94% of females of Somali origin living in Kenya undergo FGM.
The UN Population Fund (UNPF) notes that 21 per cent of women and girls, aged 15-49, have undergone some form of the practice in Kenya.
Ritualized cutting is almost like a rite of passage into womanhood for many cultures and communities.
The NHS describes Female Genital Mutilation as the procedure where a female’s genitals are intentionally cut, injured or changed without having a medical reason.
Also known as female circumcision, it is often carried out on young girls between infancy and 15, before puberty starts.
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The practice is often regarded as an offence in most countries and classified as a form of child abuse.
In March 2021, a three-judge bench of the High Court in Nairobi upheld and validated the constitutionality of the Prohibition of FGM Act, 2011.
FGM Act
The Act was aimed at advancing the rights of women and girls to a positive cultural context and to protection against harmful practices.
A public health professional had filed a constitutional petition in 2017 challenging the constitutionality of the anti-FGM law on grounds.
The petitioner argued that some sections (5, 19, 20, and 210 of the Prohibition of Female Genital Mutilation Act were unconstitutional.
In their ruling, the judges, however, found that the petitioner did not prove her allegations that the FGM law was unconstitutional.
Additionally, they opined that revoking the anti-FGM law would be detrimental to women in Kenya as it would leave them without the benefit of a legal protective mechanism thereby exposing them to this practice.
“The implication of this is that FGM/C cannot be rendered lawful because the person on whom the act was performed consented to that act. No person can license another to perform a crime.
The consent or lack thereof of the person on whom the act is performed has no bearing on a charge under the act,” said Lady Justice Achode.
