{"id":1707,"date":"2024-02-17T09:03:57","date_gmt":"2024-02-17T09:03:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/index.php\/2024\/02\/17\/fgm-woman-jailed-for-taking-child-to-kenya-for-mutilation\/"},"modified":"2024-02-17T09:03:57","modified_gmt":"2024-02-17T09:03:57","slug":"fgm-woman-jailed-for-taking-child-to-kenya-for-mutilation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/fgm-woman-jailed-for-taking-child-to-kenya-for-mutilation\/","title":{"rendered":"FGM: Woman jailed for taking child to Kenya for mutilation"},"content":{"rendered":"

A woman has been jailed for taking a three-year-old British child to Kenya for female genital mutilation (FGM).<\/strong><\/p>\n

Amina Noor, 40, from Harrow, north-east London, travelled to Kenya in 2006 where she took the child to a private house for the procedure, the court heard.<\/p>\n

At the Old Bailey, Noor was handed a sentence of seven years in prison.<\/p>\n

She was the first person to be convicted of assisting a non-UK person to perform FGM.<\/p>\n

Warning: This article contains details some may find distressing<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

She had told the Old Bailey the mutilation was done for cultural reasons and was a procedure she herself had undergone as a child.<\/p>\n

During the sentencing earlier, Mr Justice Bryan said this \u201ctruly horrific and abhorrent crime\u201d had left the victim\u2019s life \u201cirrevocably altered\u201d.<\/p>\n

He added that FGM was a practice that was very widespread in both Somalia and Kenya.<\/p>\n

The judge praised the girl\u2019s \u201cconfidence to speak to a teacher\u201d and come forward and said he hoped her \u201ccourage will inspire other women to do the same\u201d.<\/p>\n

The defence told the Old Bailey on Friday that Noor \u201cwas influenced at the time in the belief that she was doing what was necessary to be accepted by her culture\u201d.<\/p>\n

Prosecutor Deanna Heer KC acknowledged the \u201ccultural pressure\u201d in place, but said that Noor \u201cfailed to intervene to protect\u201d the girl.<\/p>\n

The victim read out a statement in court, which said that she had been affected by the case being in the \u201cpublic domain\u201d, reflecting how uncomfortable she felt by \u201cstrangers discussing [her] body\u201d publicly.<\/p>\n

Girl \u2018cried in pain all night\u2019<\/h2>\n

The victim, who is now aged 21, cannot be identified for legal reasons.<\/p>\n

During the trial, the court heard that Noor had taken the girl to a \u2018clinic\u2019 via tuk-tuk where she was asked to wait outside a private house as the child was mutilated.<\/p>\n

The court heard the girl \u201csuffered a wound\u201d and following the procedure \u201ccried in pain all night\u201d.<\/p>\n

When Noor was questioned by police, she denied that anyone had made threats against her to force her to agree to FGM.<\/p>\n

However, Noor claimed she feared being \u201ccursed\u201d and \u201cdisowned\u201d from her community if she failed to hand over the three-year-old.<\/p>\n

During the trial, Noor said she \u201cfelt pain\u201d over the threat, saying: \u201cThat was a pressure I had no power to do anything about.\u201d<\/p>\n

Noor described what had been done to the girl as \u201cSunnah\u201d \u2013 meaning \u201ctradition\u201d or \u201cway\u201d in Arabic \u2013 and added it was a practice that had gone on for cultural reasons for a long time.<\/p>\n

Her crime only came to light years later in November 2018 when the victim, then 16, confided in her English teacher at school.<\/p>\n

After the victim told her teacher what had happened to her when she was an infant, she was taken to a hospital where she was examined.<\/p>\n

Following an examination at University College hospital in 2019, it was found that her clitoris had been completely removed, the court heard.<\/p>\n

\u2018Real deterrent\u2019<\/h2>\n

Jurors previously heard how Noor was born in Somalia and moved to Kenya at the age of eight during the civil war in her home country.<\/p>\n

She was 16 when she came to the UK and was later granted British citizenship.<\/p>\n

Det Supt Andy Furphy, whose team led the investigation, said: \u201cWe know FGM can be a taboo subject, which is rarely discussed within families and communities \u2013 we must build trust with those impacted so we can protect victims.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s not our job to judge and we will always remain sensitive and respectful.<\/p>\n

\u201cI hope today\u2019s sentence acts as a real deterrent to those who choose to harm children in this way.<\/p>\n

\u201cMost importantly, I hope that we can use this result as an opportunity to continue to raise awareness of this topic, ensuring victims know that there is support and help out there.\u201d<\/p>\n

Faty Kane, girls\u2019 rights senior advisor at ActionAid UK, welcomed the sentence.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s distressing to hear of any young girl going through this act of violence, let alone a three-year-old girl,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

She added that \u201cpunishments alone won\u2019t work\u201d to end FGM and work must be done on the ground in communities.<\/p>\n

It is illegal to perform the practice in the UK or take abroad a British national or permanent resident for FGM, or to help anyone trying to do this.<\/p>\n

Victims of FGM are also granted anonymity once an allegation is reported to police, whatever the outcome is of the investigation or prosecution.<\/p>\n

Figures held by the United Nations suggest that 94% of females of Somali origin living in Kenya undergo FGM.<\/p>\n

To date, the only other successful prosecution for FGM was in 2019 when a Ugandan woman from Walthamstow, east London, was sentenced to 11 years in prison for mutilating a three-year-old girl.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A woman has been jailed for taking a three-year-old British child to Kenya for female genital mutilation (FGM). Amina Noor, 40, from Harrow, north-east London, travelled to Kenya in 2006 where she took the child to a private house for the procedure, the court heard. At the Old Bailey, Noor was handed a sentence of […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1707","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","entry"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack-related-posts":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1707","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1707"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1707\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1707"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1707"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1707"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}