A British mother made public her anguish when she discovered that her son had been circumcised without her consent.
The woman, from Nottingham, England, said she opened her son's diaper to change it and found it covered in blood. "I had to leave the room because I got hysterical," said the mother, who does not want to be identified.
The boy, whose parents are separated, was circumcised in July 2013 at an English medical center when he was three months old during a visit to his paternal grandparents, who are Muslims.
Since then four years have passed during which the mother has been struggling with the British authorities to do something about it. Now three people have just been arrested, including a 61-year-old man believed to be a doctor, on suspicion of felony bodily injury.
"It is not a criminal offense"
Male circumcision is a common practice in Jewish and Muslim communities as well as in some African countries. Most of the circumcisions that are made for cultural and religious reasons are made during childhood.
In the United Kingdom, an estimated 16% of men between the ages of 16 and 44 are circumcised.
According to data from the World Health Organization 75% of Americans are circumcised for reasons that are not religious or cultural.
"Like talking to the walls"
Initially, the British mother contacted the social services to tell them what happened and the following year, in November 2014, to the Nottinghamshire County Police.
An investigation was opened but the police concluded that the case was not a criminal offense and referred it to the General Medical Council.
"I wrote to the parliamentary representative in my constituency and he did not listen to me. He seemed to be talking to the walls".
The mother subsequently received help from a male circumcision lobby called Men Do Complain and a well-known human rights lawyer named Saimo Chahal QC, who wrote to Nottinghamshire police to reopen the investigation.
A human rights issue?
According to the British Medical Association, it is generally assumed in the United Kingdom that male circumcision is legal when there is valid consent and there is not much regulation on the subject.
However, the child's mother says that what was done to her son was "male genital mutilation" and should be considered the same as female genital mutilation, which is banned in the UK and is considered a form of child abuse because it can seriously damaging the health of women.
"It's even illegal to cut off the dogs' tail. I've come home crying like never before to think that a dog has more rights than my son," he said.
"There is something wrong with all this. A dog is protected, a girl is protected, but not a child".
After receiving the letter from counsel Chahal, police reopened the investigation and arrested on June 21, four years after the events, the three suspects, who were released pending further investigation.
"Although some people with religious beliefs view circumcision as normal, others consider it an unnecessary assault that can cause physical and psychological harm," said the lawyer. In this case, "the mother clearly had not consented to the son's circumcision, which may be a criminal offense."
Lack of empathy
Since the circumcision, the mother says that her son has suffered recurrent infections and that his penis is inflamed and irritated regularly. She also argues that the procedure has affected her emotionally, in addition to her son.
He also said that he felt that many people had no empathy for them. "There were even a couple of cops who told me things like," Oh, my husband is circumcised, I think it's better. "Or", They're harder than they look, this teaches them to be stronger. " Fools, my heart breaks.".
Now the mother feels some relief that the authorities finally do something about the case and hopes that what happened to her and her child will help raise awareness.
"I can not believe that to reach this point they had to spend four years".
Anti-circumcision activists believe that the visibility that took the case could open the door to a wave of demands for "male genital mutilation" of men who underwent this procedure in childhood without medical necessity, before they can decide for themselves what they wanted to do with their bodies.
SOURCE: BBC
