A woman who flew a three-year-old British girl out to Kenya for female genital mutilation was defended by the victim in court being slapped with a seven-year jail sentence.
What Happened Then?
Amina Noor, 40, who was born in Somalia but moved to Britain when she was 16, took the three-year-old to a ‘clinic’ while she waited outside as the horrific procedure was carried out.
Medical experts who later examined the child found she had suffered severe mutilation of her genitals, which would have caused significant bleeding and extreme pain.
What Noor Said
Noor, from Harrow, North London, has claimed she was pressured by her own family to allow the barbaric procedure and her mother told her she would be ‘cursed’ if she didn’t let the ritual happen.
However, she was jailed on Friday for seven years in the first conviction of its kind in the UK.
Statement From Victim
Now, it has emerged that the victim, who kept the mutilation a secret for 13 years until confiding in her English teacher at the age of 16, appeared at the Old Bailey to plead for Noor not to be jailed.
She said Noor is ‘not wicked’ and she understood why the refugee agreed to let the procedure happen.
‘I know if I had been in her position with the failure of education and pressure from people she trusted, I would have done the same,’ the university student said.
What is FGM?
Female genital mutilation (FGM) is a procedure where the female genitals are deliberately cut, injured or changed, but there’s no medical reason for this to be done.
It’s also known as female circumcision or cutting, and by other terms, such as Sunna, gudniin, halalays, tahur, megrez and khitan, among others.
FGM is usually carried out on young girls between infancy and the age of 15, most commonly before puberty starts. It’s illegal in the UK and classified as child abuse.
What Was Discovered?
An examination by doctors then found the girl’s clitoris was completely removed.
Noor is the first person to be convicted of taking a child abroad for FGM.
Mr Justice Bryan, jailing Noor, said the case involves a ‘young woman whose life has been irrevocably impacted by your actions’.
Prosecutor Deanna Heer, KC, earlier told jurors Noor flew the victim to Kenya in 2006.
‘Whilst they were there, she took [the victim] to the house of a Kenyan woman, where she was subjected to female genital mutilation. That involved the complete removal of her clitoris.
‘At the time, she was just three years of age.’
