LONDON: A woman appeared in a London court Thursday accused of helping in the genital mutilation of a four-year-old girl, a common but risky practice in parts of Africa, the Mideast and Asia
Amina Noor, 39, who required a Somali interpreter, pleaded not guilty to an offense dating back 16 years to when the alleged victim was aged just four.
Noor, from Harrow in northwest London, faces a single charge of assisting a non-UK resident to mutilate female genitalia while abroad.
The victim, who cannot be identified for legal reasons, is now aged 20 and a British citizen.
A trial will take place in October, the Central Criminal Court at the Old Bailey in central London was told.
The practice is common in some African, Middle Eastern and Asian countries and involves the partial or total removal of a young girl’s clitoris and labia.
The procedure — also known as “female circumcision,” often under unsterile conditions — can lead to severe complications.
According to the World Health Organization (WHO), more than 200 million girls and women alive today have been subjected to the practice.
Female Genital Mutilation (FGM) is illegal in the UK and many other nations. It is also a criminal offense for UK nationals or permanent residents to perform or help to perform it overseas.
The maximum penalty is 14 years in prison.
Woman faces UK trial for genital mutilation of girl, 4
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Woman faces UK trial for genital mutilation of girl, 4
- The practice is common in some African, Middle Eastern and Asian countries and involves the partial or total removal of a young girl’s clitoris and labia
- More than 200 million girls and women alive today have been subjected to the practice: WHO
Russian drone attack forces power cuts in Ukraine’s Kryvyi Rih, military says
- Kyiv says the campaign has forced rolling outages and emergency cuts to cities across the country, as repair crews work under fire and Ukraine relies on air defenses and electricity imports to stabilize the grid
KYIV: Russian drones struck infrastructure in the central Ukrainian city of Kryvyi Rih on Wednesday, forcing emergency power blackouts for more than 45,000 customers and disrupting heat supplies, military administration head Oleksandr Vilkul said.
“Please fill up on water and charge your devices, if you have the chance. It’s going to be difficult,” Vilkul said on the Telegram messaging app.
Water utility pumping stations switched to generators and water remained in the system, but there could be pressure problems.
The full scale of the attack was not immediately known. There was no comment from Russia about the strike.
Russia has repeatedly struck Ukraine’s power plants, substations and transmission lines with missiles and drones, seeking to knock out electricity and heating and hinder industry during the nearly four-year war.
Kyiv says the campaign has forced rolling outages and emergency cuts to cities across the country, as repair crews work under fire and Ukraine relies on air defenses and electricity imports to stabilize the grid.
Kryvyi Rih, a steel-and-mining hub in the Dnipropetrovsk region and President Volodymyr Zelensky’s hometown, has been hit repeatedly, with strikes killing civilians and damaging homes and industry.
The city sits close enough to southern front lines to be within strike range, while its factories, logistics links and workforce make it economically important and a key rear-area center supporting Ukraine’s war effort.
