Man and girl stopped at Heathrow on suspicion of FGM

 

Hannah GodefaUNICEF National Ambassador for Ethiopia Pic:Marisol Grandon/Department for International Development

Hannah GodefaUNICEF National Ambassador for Ethiopia Pic:Marisol Grandon/Department for International Development

Two people have been arrested in East London for conspiracy to commit female genital mutilation (FGM).

A woman, 40, was arrested in Hackney on Saturday and a man, 72, a Ugandan national was arrested in Newham after he had arrived at Heathrow on Friday morning, with an 11 year old girl from Uganda’s capital Kampala. Both are being held at an East London police station

With concerns for her welfare, specialist officers took the girl – a UK national – into the care of social services.

“Officers acted upon information given and a 40-year-old woman was arrested in Hackney under Section 2 of the FGM Act 2003, namely aiding, abetting, counselling or procuring a girl to carry out FGM on herself.”

Police told the press the two arrests are connected but have no further comment as yet.

Last week, London held The Girl Summit where international politicians pledged to eradicate FGM within a generation. It has been illegal in the UK since 1985, and since 2003 those found guilty of taking a female child out of the country to be circumcised can face anywhere up to 14 years in prison.

No one has been convicted of FGM; however, in March the Crown Prosecution Service launched its first effort to get convictions for FGM, when a doctor and person thought to be encouraging the practice were arrested in November 2013.

The pair are due to stand trial in January 2015.

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