ANGOLA PRESS, Luanda, Saturday, June 14, 2008.
Sudan, 06/14 - Danish police have arrested a couple
of Sudanese origin suspected of taking their two young
daughters to Sudan to be circumcised.
Female circumcision usually involves the partial
removal of the woman`s genitals.
It is outlawed in Denmark but remains a widespread
practice in Africa, the Middle East and South East
Asia.
Police said the girls, now aged nine and 11, were
circumcised in 2003 during a trip to the east African
nation.
The 49-year-old husband and his 40-year-old wife were
arrested after Danish social services alerted police to
the fact that medical examinations showed the two girls
had been circumcised.
The couple, who deny all wrong-doing, were also
accused of having planned to take their third daughter,
aged five, to Sudan to be circumcised.
A Danish judge remanded them in custody for eight
days, pending further investigation. If found guilty,
they could face up to six years in prison.
Female circumcision can cause death through
haemorrhaging and later complications during
childbirth. It also carries risks of infection, urinary
tract problems and mental trauma.
Some 100 to 140 million girls and women around the
world have undergone genital mutilation, including 6.5
million in Western countries, according to a study by
the French National Institute for Demographic Research
published last year.
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