Feds Allege as Many as 100 Girls May Have Undergone Genital Mutilation in Metro Detroit

Feds say a 12-year conspiracy near Detroit to mutilate the genitals of females could involve as many as 100 girls.

Sandra Svoboda

Federal officials allege the genitals of as many as 100 girls may have been mutilated by physicians in Metro Detroit.

Prosecutors have charged three medical providers in what is believed to be the nation’s first criminal case involving female genital mutilation.

They accuse Dr. Jumana Nagarwala of cutting the genitals of two 7-year-old girls who were brought by their parents from Minnesota to a clinic in Livonia.

The clinic’s owner, Dr. Fakhruddin Attar, and his wife, Farida Attar, have also been indicted in connection with the case, which the government alleges is part of a conspiracy stretching back a dozen years.

Now prosecutors say they estimate up to 100 females may have undergone the procedure during that time.

An attorney for Nagarwala counters that the doctor only removed a mucous membrane from the girls as part of a religious practice.

Female genital mutilation is recognized internationally as a human rights violation and is a crime in the U.S.

Courtesy of “Equality Now”

 

Author

  • Quinn Klinefelter
    Quinn Klinefelter is a Senior News Editor at 101.9 WDET. In 1996, he was literally on top of the news when he interviewed then-Senator Bob Dole about his presidential campaign and stepped on his feet.