Isis 'orders female genital mutilation' for women in Mosul

[cronus]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-28466434

Isis 'orders female genital mutilation' for women in Mosul

The UN says militant Islamist group Isis has ordered all women and girls in Mosul, northern Iraq, to undergo female genital mutilation (FGM).

UN official Jacqueline Badcock said the fatwa, or religious edict, applied to females between the ages of 11 and 46.

She said the unprecedented decree issued by the Islamists in control of the city was of grave concern.

Iraq is facing a radical Isis-led Sunni insurgency, with cities in the north-west under militant control.

The ritual cutting of girls' genitals is practised by some African, Middle Eastern and Asian communities in the belief it prepares them for adulthood or marriage.

The UN General Assembly approved a resolution in December 2012 calling for all member states to ban the practice.

The Isis edict could affect nearly four million women and girls in and around the northern Iraqi city of Mosul, the UN warns.

Ms Badcock, the UN's resident and humanitarian coordinator in Iraq, said the practice "is something very new for Iraq... and does need to be addressed".

She was talking to reporters via video link from the Kurdish provincial capital of Irbil.

(continued, if this was happening to men there'd be a uproar....)

[Svartalf]

Won't somebody rid us of those turbulent clerics?

[laklak]

What a bunch of sweethearts, eh?

[cronus]

If women don't organise and stand against this there is really no hope.

[Svartalf]

Yeah, right, we're dealing with middle east women, not a bunch of Danish Lassies

[cronus]

Yeah, right, we're dealing with middle east women, not a bunch of Danish Lassies

A woman is a woman, exotica included.

[jaydot]

it's such a stupid call and so likely to create universal outrage that i call "poe" on the edict as designed to make these already unpalatable thugs appear even worse.

[Svartalf]

Problem is that them fanatics are moronic enough to really do it...

[Xamonas Chegwé]

There is a lot of doubt about the veracity of this claim. Some sources say it is being spread by opponents of Isis in order to discredit them.

Either version is feasible - so a pinch of salt is being taken.

[Svartalf]

Let's exterminate the new caliph and his supporters and salt the ground near to the mass graves ... good deed either way.

[cronus]

It is credible even if it isn't true since Isis do a lot worse with menfolk who they don't agree with.