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The death of a 17-year-old girl undergoing female genital mutilation surgery in Egypt on Sunday caused an uproar among activists who say the country is not doing enough to end the dangerous practice. Maya Mohamed Mousa was receiving the operation in a private hospital under anesthesia when she died of heavy bleeding on Sunday. Her twin sister, who also underwent the procedure at the hospital, survived.

“It is incredible that the Egyptian police are not taking a tough line on ending FGM in a country where over 27 million have been affected. The death of the 17-year-old should be yet another shocking wake up call for Egypt,” said Suad Abu-Dayyeh, Middle East and North Africa consultant at rights group Equality Now.

Ninety percent of girls and women between the ages of 15 and 49 have undergone FGM despite the practice being banned since 2008, according to the report. Last year, a medical doctor, Raglan Fadl, was convicted of manslaughter over the death of a 13-year-old girl undergoing the procedure under his care, and was sentenced to prison, but still has not had to serve time. Dalia Abd El-Hameed, a gender and women’s rights officer at the Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights, said that doctors who perform FGM “are actually not performing operations, but crimes.”

“The state must focus on changing individuals’ beliefs,” she said.

Source: NY Times