Wednesday November 1, 2006, 3:59 pm
Is forty years in prison enough punishment for this child abuse/mutilation?

Thursday November 2, 2006, 1:01 pm
If this story makes you angry, sign this petition!: Click here.

Thursday November 2, 2006, 2:22 pm
He got 10 years, it was in the BBC today: http://www.care2.com/news/member/597720583/211788

Now I understand what happened: in the BBC version of the story which I posted (sorry, hadn't seen this one, Little Squirrel!!) they say the mother hadn't noticed the mutilation for 2 years!
There is no attempt to explain how this "not noticing" was possible, either from the BBC or Yahoo. Or from the judge and court, for that matter!

Since the girl was 2 when the excision was performed, I couldn't figure out how a mother would not bathe and change and dress a 2-year-old baby and, inevitably, notice the wound !

What I understand now, thanks to this Yahoo article, is that the mother was at least an accomplice, at worst the sole perpetrator of this act, and is now using it to get back at the father who she is now separated from.

This man may very well be innocent!

Why have none of the journalists remarked on the fact that a mother would necessarily notice an excision and that there is therefore something very fishy about her story. This goes along with what the father said about being from a city, he would not support genital mutilation, it being more of a rural phenomenon.

Thursday November 2, 2006, 4:31 pm
I signed. No woman or small child should ever have to experience such a traumatic event.

Friday November 3, 2006, 2:26 am
In addition, to continue where I left off above, it is always the women who perform excisions and infibulations, NEVER the men, even if they do expect to reap the "benefits" of the practice (virginal brides, feminin women, "good girls," submissive wives: the rational is multiple) In every country where genital mutilation is practised, it is ALWAYS women who carry out the operation. Women support the practice and want their daughters thus mutilated for they know that they will not find husbands and they will be ostracized if they remain "whole" into adulthood. I really doubt the mother's testimony!

The article says that the estranged wife collaborated with law makers and law enforcement to draft a new anti-genital mutilation bill, so I believe that her cooperation placed her above the law and enabled her to use it and manipulate law enforcement to get back at the husband.

Friday November 3, 2006, 2:44 am
In addition, to continue with my above remarks, it is ALWAYS the women who perform excisions and infibulations, NEVER the men, fathers or brothers. They are even "banned" from the operating room or hut.

In every single country where female genital mutilation is practised, it is considered purely the woman's domain, just as a father would not traditionally get involved with telling a daughter about menstruation. Of course, the men reap the "benefits" of the operation, in that they get what they want: virginal brides, submissive wives, "good girls." But the mothers support the practice! They always make the arrangements for their daughters to have the operation because they know that otherwise they will not be able to find husbands and will be ostracized by the community. They take care of finding a woman who, like a mid-wife, traditionally carries the operation out at the demand of mothers.

I read in this article that the mother collaborated with law makers and law enforcement to draw up a new anti-FGM law. I am convinced that this cooperation placed her above suspicion (nobody apparently bothered to find out how a mother had not noticed such a wound for over a year!) and she took advantage of this to "get back" at the husband. Nobody in Georgia is acquainted with the practice and nobody knew that it is always the women who perform it.

Friday November 3, 2006, 2:44 am
In addition, to continue with my above remarks, it is ALWAYS the women who perform excisions and infibulations, NEVER the men, fathers or brothers. They are even "banned" from the operating room or hut.

In every single country where female genital mutilation is practised, it is considered purely the woman's domain, just as a father would not traditionally get involved with telling a daughter about menstruation. Of course, the men reap the "benefits" of the operation, in that they get what they want: virginal brides, submissive wives, "good girls." But the mothers support the practice! They always make the arrangements for their daughters to have the operation because they know that otherwise they will not be able to find husbands and will be ostracized by the community. They take care of finding a woman who, like a mid-wife, traditionally carries the operation out at the demand of mothers.

I read in this article that the mother collaborated with law makers and law enforcement to draw up a new anti-FGM law. I am convinced that this cooperation placed her above suspicion (nobody apparently bothered to find out how a mother had not noticed such a wound for over a year!) and she took advantage of this to "get back" at the husband. Nobody in Georgia is acquainted with the practice and nobody knew that it is always the women who perform it.

Monday January 8, 2007, 9:43 am
The crime is outrageous and I can understand a jury wanting to punish someone, but THE FATHER IS INNOCENT!

The mother and grandmother have some explaining to do.

-Ron Low

Monday February 19, 2007, 8:11 pm
I am angry and it is wrong to do this. What is wrong with these people. I am glad he is going to jail he deserves it, he had no right to do what he did. The father is not innocent at all by any means. He is a disgrace.

Thursday March 1, 2007, 1:41 am
I just signed. This practice which is being done is HORRIBLE!!!

Sunday March 25, 2007, 9:45 am
THANK YOU RACHEL!!!!! What people don't seem to understand is that regardless of who performes this 'operation', it the the men the benefit, and it is the culture that makes the women feel that they are bad, wrong or inadequate if they don't have this done or if they don't perform this act. It is the men in these cultures that make the women feel that they will never be accepted or married if they fail to do or have this done. Men are in control in these societies, and the women do as they are told. I agree that the mother should also share some of the responsibility because this is the United States, but...the control is taken from these women, and no doubt she felt she had no choice. You can't tell me that she did this to her daughter completely willingly and the father is innocent!

Monday April 23, 2007, 10:29 pm
Makes me want to hold my daughters and never let them out of the house so they may never know what really goes on in this world

Sunday April 29, 2007, 12:47 am
As horrible as this practice is... education is the cure. Women from these third world need to be educated and supported. Only when they see their own value as human beings can they stand up and say 'NO MORE".

Thursday May 3, 2007, 4:08 pm
Maybe give him the same treatment - castration - no anesthesia, what a sick man he must have been. Tradition, pooey! This is the most ridiculous custom imaginable. It is degradatory, harmful, so sickening I can't even finish this post.

Thursday August 16, 2007, 5:41 am
Well if they are gonna stop female circumcision when are we going to stop male? It causes the loss of many nerve endings, etc.. in males also. What makes it any different to do it to females?

Thursday September 13, 2007, 9:17 am
i think they both should be given equal time in jail

Thursday October 25, 2007, 8:26 am
I cannot believe that in 2007, going on 2008, that this barbaric and degrading treatment still persists. We are all human beings and we shouldn't have to be tortured this way.