DETROIT, MI — Two Oakland County moms have been charged with female genital mutilation as the net expands in a federal investigation into the controversial, internationally condemned procedure. The new charges bring to six the number of people charged by federal prosecutors in a historic case that will be the first court test of 20-year-old federal law criminalizing FGM.
Charged in an indictment unsealed Wednesday in federal court were two Oakland County moms, Fatema Dahodwala and Farida Arif, who are accused of subjecting their daughters to genital mutilation as part of a religious custom among members of the Muslim sect Dawoodi Bohra.
The four others previously charged are Dr. Jumana Nagarwala, 44, of Northville; Dr. Fakhruddin Attar, 53, and his wife, Farida Attar, 50, of Farmington Hills; and Tahera Shafiq, 48, of Northville.
The new defendants are expected to appear in federal court Wednesday afternoon. (For more local news, click here to sign up for real-time news alerts and newsletters from Detroit Patch, click here to find your local Michigan Patch. Also, follow us on Facebook, and if you have an iPhone, click here to get the free Patch iPhone app.)
The original indictment charging Nagarwala with genital mutilation alleges she performed the procedure on two 7-year-old girls who traveled in February to the Attars’ Burhani Medical Clinic in Livonia with their parents.
The new indictments come a day after the Michigan Legislature approved final passage of a tough law that would impose penalties against doctors and parents convicted of being involved in FGM procedures to up to 15 years in prison, 10 years more than the sentence under the federal law.
Photo via Shutterstock
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