An Egyptian court just dealt a blow to the fight against female genital mutilation

CAIRO, Egypt — The first attempt to prosecute someone for carrying out female genital mutilation in Egypt failed on Thursday when a doctor accused of performing the procedure on a young girl was acquitted.

The girl at the center of the case, 13-year-old Sohair al-Bata'a, died during the procedure in 2013. 

A judge in the Nile Delta province of Mansoura threw out the case against Dr. Raslan Fadl Halawa, and acquitted him of manslaughter.

The girl's father, Mohamed al-Bata’a, who brought her to the clinic was also absolved of responsibility. 

Despite police and health officials testifying that Sohair's relatives had taken her to the clinic for the operation, the doctor claimed that he had been treating Sohair for something unrelated and that she had died as a result of an allergy to penicillin, which he had not administered.

The prosecutor, Atef Aboueleinein, a lawyer with the Women’s Center for Counsel and Legal Defense, says there is “little hope for an appeal” because the girl’s family accepted a financial settlement from the doctor.

The truth is that Sohair’s case is just the tip of the iceberg.

A staggering number of women have undergone the procedure 

Over 90 percent of Egyptian women between the ages of 15 and 49 have undergone the procedure according to UNICEF, the vast majority of the operations having been performed by a doctor. In the past, traditional midwives, barbers or sometimes mothers themselves would perform the procedure, often stopping the bleeding by putting dust or salt on the wound.

FGM can encompass a number of procedures, including the partial or total removal of the clitoris, the removal of the clitoris and labia minora, and infibulation, which involves cutting and sewing up the outer labia.

In Egypt the most widely practiced version is the removal of the clitoris and labia minora. Most girls undergo the procedure between the ages of 9 and 13 but victims can be as young as 9-months-old.

Not everyone is against it 

Though support for the practice is decreasing, 54 percent of women and 57 percent of men in Egypt support FGM.

It is practiced all over the country but support for the practice is influenced by socioeconomic situation and education: the same report found that 71.8  percent of people with no education said they would have FGM performed on their daughters, compared to 43.7 percent of those who had finished secondary school or had some higher education.

Even after Sohair’s death, residents in her village say they will have FGM performed on their girls. Soheir's relatives told the BBC her death was “God's will.” Her uncle added, “without circumcision girls are full of lust.”

Many believe it curbs women’s sexual appetites and makes them less likely to commit adultery. Others say  say that if a woman has not undergone FGM it limits her prospects for marriage.

It's illegal, but authorities do nothing to stop it 

Although it was technically outlawed in 2008, no one is being prosecuted for it. Activists were hoping jail time for the perpetrators in this case could have served as a warning to others who carry out the operation and seek to have it performed on their daughters. But now they fear that other doctors will see it as a green light to continue the practice.

“Of course after this verdict there will be no fear among doctors and they will perform FGM as though it’s normal. They won’t be afraid,” said Aboueleinein, the prosecutor.

Though Egypt’s Grand Mufti, the highest religious authority in the land, ruled against it in 2006, many see the practice as a religious duty. In Egypt, both Muslims and Christians perform the practice.

FGM is symbolic of the poor state of women's rights in Egypt

Egypt has become notorious worldwide for sexual harassment and hundreds of women have been victims of mob sexual assaults over the last three years.

In fact, 99.3 percent of women in Egypt report experiencing some sort of sexual harassment. And while a new constitution enshrines women’s rights to work, education and hold political office, criminalizes violence against women and discrimination on the basis of gender, many activists have little hope that such rights will be upheld anytime soon.

The main legal process of divorce for women requires her to relinquish her financial rights. Over 60 percent of working women are in the informal sector, vulnerable to abuses and men retain control over the majority of the economic decision-making.

It's not just an Egyptian problem

The practice takes place in 29 countries across East and West Africa as well as a few others in the Middle East, including Yemen, according to the WHO.

In Djibouti, Guinea , Somalia and Sudan more than 90 percent of women undergo the procedure. In Djibouti, Eritrea, Somalia and Niger, more than a quarter of cases involve infibulation — sewing the vagina closed —which is a particularly invasive and dangerous form.

Somalia is the worst-affected country, with 97.9 of women undergoing the most dangerous method of FGM.