1st doctor convicted of female circumcision serves just 3 months of sentence

Raslan Fadl, the first doctor to be convicted of female circumcision in Egypt, has served just three months of his sentence.

He was convicted of performing the operation on 13-year-old Soheir al-Batea, who died in the process, after she was given a fatal dose of anesthesia.

Fadl told the Associated Press that his sentence was reduced from two years to three months by a court in Mansoura, after he “reconciled” with Batea’s family.

Fadl was initially sentenced to two years in prison for involuntary manslaughter, and an additional three months for female circumcision. The case was lauded as a landmark verdict, as Fadl was the first doctor to be convicted for performing circumcision despite the practice being outlawed in 2008.

In a surprising turn of events, journalists tracked Fadl down in December 2015 and discovered he was living freely and working in a state hospital.

According to the Associated Press, Fadl was later taken into custody in April, after his sentence was reduced, and was released three months later in early July.

In mid-July, Suez General Prosecution referred four people to court for medical malpractice and sanctioning female circumcision, the privately owned Al-Watan newspaper reported.

The case was filed after a girl died during a female circumcision operation in Suez. The defendants include the girl’s mother, the doctor, the anesthesiologist and the head of the hospital.

The majority of female circumcision operations in Egypt are performed by medical professionals, with UNFPA data estimating that around 72 percent of circumcised girls were operated on by doctors, with an additional eight percent operated on by nurses.

Female circumcision is still widespread in Egypt. A 2014 report by the National Health and Demographic stated that 92 percent of married women between the ages of 15-49 had undergone female circumcision. However these numbers are disputed by UNICEF, who released a report in 2016 stating that around 70 percent of women were circumcised in 2015.