41 percent of women have gone under the practise of female genuital mutilation (FGM).

Part of the campaign has focused on FGM. The survey by the government shows that mothers are the main party responsible for forcing their daughters experience the painful ritual and then grandmothers and fathers.

The survey’s results show that none of the participants in Dohuk, Kurdistan’s smallest of the three provinces, were circumcised while the highest rate of FGM was in Sulaimai.

Erbil, Kurdistan region's capital, came between Sulaimani and Dohuk. According to the survey, most of the women were circumcised while they were under five years old.

Jamil Ali Rashid, the director general of health affairs at the ministry of health, said “the survey’s results are totally correct and credible because the participants were given clear questions and special teams examined the women who participated in the survey after their consent was secured.”

A campaign to end FGM practices in Kurdistan was launched in February 2010 by 51 non-governmental organizations.

from RUDAW

Imam rapes ten-year-old girl

The 42-year-old man said that Satan led him to commit the deed at his shop at Yakubnagar in Firingibazar.

Dhaka (AsiaNews) – A ten-year-old girl was brutally raped on Saturday in Chittagong by Mohammad Moinuddin, the imam of the Chittagong Government Muslim High School. The 42-year-old man said that Satan led him to commit the deed at his shop at Yakubnagar in Firingibazar. The girl was taken to Chittagong’s Medical College Hospital for tests.

Kotwali Police Chief Abul Kalam Azad told AsiaNews that around 6 pm, the imam called the girl as she walked home from school. He then took her to a quiet place where he raped her.

The girl ran home bleeding and told everything to her parents. Her father ran to the place of the crime to apprehend the rapist, who was arrested right after police was informed of the incident.

“My daughter is just ten-years-old,” the father said. “Every time I pray, I cannot but think about what happened. I cannot believe that an imam, a man who learnt from the holy religion of Islam, a man who teaches others, is the same man who raped by daughter. I want justice.”

Asia News