by Rayehe Mozafarian | Jan 9, 2016 | Iraq, News
THE barbaric Islamic State (ISIS) has issued a fatwa ordering that newborn baby girls horrifically have their genitials mutilated.
The terror group ordered that if mothers objected to the female genital mutilation (FGM) for their children they faced being beaten, fined and the operation carried out without consent.
According to the ruling by cruel Daesh, part of the child’s clitoris should be surgically removed immediately after birth.
High-ranking Kurdish politician Ghayas Sorchi, from the Kurdistan Patriotic Union (PUK), revealed the sickening fatwa.
He has several informants in the Iraqi city of Mosul, which has been under ISIS control since August 2014
Mr Sorchi was the representative of the PUK in Mosul before the city was overrun and is known to be very well connected with the underground network.
He said that mothers of newborn babies had been ordered to bring them to hospitals in order to have the operation.
The lawyer and women’s rights activist Falah Murad Khan said: “Last year when this was first suggested nobody believed that this could really be a fatwa, but now it seems with the latest confirmation that it is indeed the truth.”
Mr Murad Khan said there was reportedly a special operating room that had been set up in Mosul to carry out the operations on baby girls.
According to him, the externally visible part of the clitoris was either partly or completely removed.
He added: “It is possible that the fatwa which we knew about last summer was a voluntary measure for mothers, but that not enough had followed the instructions. As a result, it is now being forced through with violence.”
It was in part due to the work of Mr Murad Khan that female genital mutilation is banned in Turkish-controlled parts of Iraq since 2011.
But he said even there were still people who claim to know better and who advised women to have children operated on as soon as they are born.
Among the reasons given for the horrific practice are hygiene, cultural identity and control over sexual activity.
Source
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by Rayehe Mozafarian | Dec 29, 2015 | Iran, Reports
Genital Mutilation Among Iranian Women
Iran is among the countries where female genital mutilation continues to be performed in some geographic regions. Such practices have become accepted as a form of violence against women, acts that sometimes result in death. On Saturday July 11th, Iran’s Sociology Association held a conference titled “The Blade and Tradition” on the subject which was attended by sociologists and psychologist involved with this issue.
According to Rayehe Mozafarian, a researcher, traces of female genital mutilation have been recorded in six provinces of Iran, in Hormozgan, Lorestan, Ilam, Kermanshah, West Azerbaijan and Khuzestan. According to the Iranian KhabarOnline website, Mozafarian has said that in Gheshm Island on the Persian Gulf some 83 percent of women have been recorded to have been circumcised because of gender stereotyping. She ruled out the claims that the practice is declining. “Some people say that the practice is declining in occurrence, but that is not true. We cannot conclusively say whether it is declining or on the rise because little research is conducted on this. What is needed is greater university level research and statistical work on the subject to make a definitive conclusion.”
She had published the results of her research in a book titled The Blade and Tradition, according to which some 83$ of women polled on the Iranian island of Gheshm and 50% of women in Kurdistan province undergo genital mutilation practices.
140 Million Victims Around the World
Female genital mutilation (FGM) is so widespread around the world that a special day has been designated for fighting it (February 6th). According to international statistics, every 10 seconds a women is subjected to this violent act. Some statistics speak of 140 million women around the world who have been victims of genital mutilation. The World Health Organization, WHO, has announced that 2 million women are circumcised around the world every year, a process that removes some or all external female genitalia. The UN has recognized this practice as violence against women, equating it to torture.
Some men believe this practice only takes place in some parts of Africa, but Mozafarian points out that it is in fact performed in many countries of the world. The Middle East is not immune from this violent inhuman act.
Before Iran was added to the list of countries where FGM occurred, many would not believe that Iranian women were victims of the practice. Psychologist Nazi Akbari said that she had met women at international forums who had confessed that they did not know that the practice took place in Iran, adding that the field research carried out in Iran surprised them.
She believes that using the word “circumcision” actually provided some justification to the brutal act because circumcision for men was religiously an acceptable act for men. She prefers to use the term “dismemberment,” a word she felt described the depth of the tragedy.
FGM is Not an Arab Legacy
Many people believe that FGM stems from religious beliefs. Mozafarian differs and says the practice is rooted in tradition and has no roots in religion. Islam, she adds, in no way supports this and the act is not a legacy of Arabs. Neither the Quran nor senior clerics in Islam have advocated or hinted such a practice. Some clerics have actively opposed it, which she believes should be used against the practice.
Speaking to Ghanoon (Law) newspaper, Mozafarian referenced to article 633 of the Islamic Penal Code of Iran which was passed in 2013 and which provided that, “cutting off either side of a woman’s urinal member resulted in half her dowry,” and said that “a person could file a suit against whoever had performed such an act on her but the problem is that most women on whom this is performed are younger than the legal age of 18 and so cannot file a lawsuit in a court of law. Consequently, no such complaints are filed.” According to her, the inability of women to file a legal complaint has launched a debate in some quarters on the subject. But even if legal action was taken against perpetrators, she felt the practice would go underground, rather than disappear, which made her conclude that the law had to deal with the social consequences of a ban and reject unaccepted actions in this regard.
by Rayehe Mozafarian | Dec 15, 2015 | Iran, News
Rayehe Mozafarian
For most of the people, it is surprising that Female Genital Mutilation is still happened in Iran and African countries have created in their minds when they hear the term of FGM/C for the first time. While it can be found in most parts of the world with different percentages. The main cause of the widespread prevalence of FGM/C is the migration. Many studies have been done in Iran. Some Iranian researchers believe that FGM/C has fallen sharply but is still common. There are no figures from the past. Therefore, there is no way to measure how much this practice has declined in Iran. So it is important to point out that Iranian girls are the victims of FGM/C in some parts of the south and west.
Recently, it was reported that a circumcised girl was taken to the hospital due to severe bleeding in Bokan City. Maf News reported:
“A 5-year-old girl, Sahar Shokri, was sent to a hospital after circumcision because of severe bleeding. Maf News reporter confirmed this news and reported: “Her parents have said that they do not regret to have circumcised their daughter because of respect of religion”. They referred to some male-circumcision centers. But those centers rejected to do female circumcision then Sahar was circumcised by a traditional method”.
Farzaneh Danesh Khah sent her new study and its results for STOP FGM IRAN from Piranshahr, Sardasht, Oshnavieh, Mahabad and Bokan Cities:
“Female Circumcision is called “tradition” in the local language because people believe that this operation is a prophetic tradition which failure to do so leads to sin and taking anything from non-circumcised girl is forbidden and Haram. In this study, 60 women were circumcised with a razor by Iraqi gypsy women who travel in Iran and their villages or cities. These gypsy women declared in the streets that they can do this operation, then the families brought their daughters to them because they trust them. The girls underwent FGM type 1. They were beguiled with a lure of candy or some other promise into an unknown place where another woman, in a most crude and unhygienic manner cuts a part of the clit with a razor or blade, without anesthesia. The women said after circumcision they poured ash on their genitals or they were asked to sit in the water and urinate. Some of these women said because of the fear of pain they held their urine or preferred not to drink. Female circumcision was promoted by religious leaders and they thought FGM is legal and necessary like male circumcision and it has health benefits for girls and their sexual desire will be controlled. Other women got their information about FGM through the Kurdish-Iraqi channels during recent years. They never received any information about FGM and its complications from health care centers”.
Farzaneh Danesh Khah continued that: “I interviewed all 60 women and I must say they do not have satisfactory sex condition. 32 of them have never had an orgasm experience. These women did not have the emotional problems with their husbands but they believed that they are physically disabled. Before the start of this study, I thought the last victims of FGM in these areas belongs to 30 years ago but unfortunately it is still existed in rural areas”.
by Rayehe Mozafarian | Dec 12, 2015 | Archieve, Conferances, Iran, News
The first class lecture about FGM was organized by Sara Zarghami and Mahtab Mollahoseini for the students of Tarbiat Moalem University and Psychology. they try to inform the different aspects of FGM in iran and the World and try to mentioned psychological effects on victims.
