Somalia Announces First ⛓Prosecution for Female Genital Mutilation

Somalia's Attorney General Ahmed Ali Dahir announced on Wednesday the country's first ever prosecution against female genital mutilation (FGM) following the death of a 10-year-old girl, an adviser to the government said. Ifrah Ahmed, who advises Somalia on gender issues, said the attorney general was sending a team of investigators to find out more about the death of the girl, Deeqa, who suffered severe bleeding after her mother took her to a traditional cutter.

The announcement was made at a conference on FGM attended by officials, religious leaders and journalists, which was co-hosted in Mogadishu by the Global Media Campaign to End FGM and the Ifrah Foundation. "We are ready to take it to court," the attorney general was quoted as saying on Twitter by the organisers.

Deeqa's death has prompted campaigners to renew calls for Somalia to pass a law on FGM, which affects 98 percent of women in the east African country - the highest rate in the world, according to U.N. data. "This is really a defining moment for Somalia," Deputy Prime Minister Mahdi Mohamed Gulaid told the conference organisers in a video posted on Twitter on Thursday. Somalia's constitution prohibits FGM, but efforts to pass legislation to punish offenders have been stalled by parliamentarians afraid of losing votes.