Scarred for life

Photo essay: Female circumcision in Kurdistan

by Amit R. Paley
20-Jan-2009
 

Originally featured in Washington Post, "For Kurdish Girls, a Painful Ancient Ritual". Photographer Andrea Bruce and special correspondents Nian Ahmed and Dlovan Brwari contributed to this report: Sheelan Anwar Omer, a shy 7-year-old Kurdish girl, bounded into her neighbor's house with an ear-to-ear smile, looking for the party her mother had promised. There was no celebration. Instead, a local woman quickly locked a rusty red door behind Sheelan, who looked bewildered when her mother ordered the girl to remove her underpants. Sheelan began to whimper, then tremble, while the women pushed apart her legs and a midwife raised a stainless-steel razor blade in the air. "I do this in the name of Allah!" she intoned. Kurdistan is the only known part of Iraq --and one of the few places in the world--where female circumcision is widespread. More than 60 percent of women in Kurdish areas of northern Iraq have been circumcised, according to a study conducted this year. In at least one Kurdish territory, 95 percent of women have undergone the practice, which human rights groups call female genital mutilation>>>Full text

شيلان دختر هفت ساله كرد در حاليكه لحظه اي لبخند و تبسم از چهره اش محو نميشود ,در خانه همسايه با دختران همسن و سال خود به انتظار پارتي كه مادرش به او قول داده است نشسته است. اما واقعيت اين است كه پارتي اي در كار نيست و او و5 دختر خردسال ديگر همسايگي تا دقايقي ديگر ختنه خواهند شد. ختنه دختران عملي است كه قرنها در كردستان عراق انجام ميشود. كاتيب پيرزن 91 ساله اي كه از اين عمل حمايت ميكند ميگويد: ختنه براي پاك شدن روح زن از مسائل جنسي واجب است چرا كه با اين عمل روح زن پاك ميشود و ميتوان از دست او غذا خورد. او در حاليكه با انگشتش نشان ميدهد ميگويد "قسمت بسيار كوچكي از آلت زنانه را قطع ميكنند و به آن صورت هم دردي ندارد .او همچنين گفت من هم خودم و هم تمام دخترانم را ختنه كرده ام." From sozheh.blogfa.com

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big lie

by mohsen k (not verified) on Tue Jan 20, 2009 04:21 PM PST

i am not a moslem but i know this has nothing to do with islam
this is not islamic law.
this is just simple ignorance


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The side benefit of JOHMHORIE ESLAMI

by sam jade (not verified) on Tue Jan 20, 2009 04:15 PM PST

In Shah,s time we had female pilots and ,doctors and engineers,,and this is how our women are treated in 21St century,
must be the side benefit of Islamic Republic,,and no one expect to do anything about it ,,as long as we get closer to barbaric ages ,it make us better belivers...Shame shame shame.
someone must do this To Ahmadi nejade's daughters..or his siters, so we know all are treated equally.


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Zangana has been lobbying

by sickened (not verified) on Tue Jan 20, 2009 04:13 PM PST

Zangana has been lobbying for a law in Kurdistan, a semiautonomous region with its own government, that would impose jail terms of up to 10 years on those who carry out or facilitate female circumcision. But the legislation has been stalled in parliament for nearly a year, because of what women's advocates believe is reluctance by senior Kurdish leaders to draw international public attention to the little-noticed tradition.

The Kurdish region's minister of human rights, Yousif Mohammad Aziz, said he didn't think the issue required action by parliament. "Not every small problem in the community has to have a law dealing with it," he said.

The practice of female circumcision is extremely rare in the Arab parts of Iraq, according to women's groups. They say it is not clear why the practice -- common in some parts of Africa and the Middle East -- became popular with Iraqi Kurds but not Iraqi Arabs.

//www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/story...


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hendooneh

Multiple Personality Disorder

by hendooneh on Tue Jan 20, 2009 04:10 PM PST

for males it decreases the incidence of HIV and other STDs

in other words males who are not circumcised are more likely to contract these diseases.

 

 

 


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Not Iran, Not Arab

by Islam (not verified) on Tue Jan 20, 2009 04:06 PM PST

It is Islam.


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Barberians

by Mehran-001 (not verified) on Tue Jan 20, 2009 04:03 PM PST

On what basis they decide to do this barbaric act.


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Multiple Personality Disorder

Barbaric and disgusting

by Multiple Personality Disorder on Tue Jan 20, 2009 10:51 PM PST

Circumcision of any kind, whether male or female, is a barbaric act and should be condemned.  If any parent think circumcision is a good thing then at least allow your children to grow up to adulthood and decide for themselves what they want to do with their own bodies.

 


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VAHSHIA

by 1Dariushagha (not verified) on Tue Jan 20, 2009 03:48 PM PST

This is so sick.
They just destroyed the girl's life.So sick and stupid.There is no justification whatsoever I don't care what reasons anybody gives , I wonder who put this stupid idea in their sick heads?


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omg,...

by Nanaz (not verified) on Tue Jan 20, 2009 03:47 PM PST

how they do that to a seven years old girl,what kind of custom is this?

Do iranian kurd do this kind of thing too? or is just part of arab culture?


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To: "Anonymous iranian"

by T.h.e.P.o.p.e. (not verified) on Tue Jan 20, 2009 03:39 PM PST

IT'S NOT IRAN.


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is this the

by Anonymous iranian (not verified) on Tue Jan 20, 2009 03:24 PM PST

"civilized" iran someone was talking about earlier?

"compassionate" iran?


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