2nd Doctor, Wife Charged In Female Genital Mutilation Case

DETROIT, MI — A Detroit area doctor and his wife have been accused in federal court of conspiring to perform genital mutilation procedures on young girls, the second and third people charged in a week in multi-agency investigation into the procedure that is performed to curb girls’ and women’s sexual desires. Dr. Fakhruddin Attar, 53, and his wife, Faida Attar, 50, were arrested Friday morning, the Justice Department said.

Last week, Dr. Jumana Nagarwala was charged in what the Justice Department said was likely the first case of its kind to be prosecuted since the federal government criminalized female genital mutilation. The practice has been globally condemned as a violation of the human rights of girls and women, but is a cultural and religious practice still common in some parts of Africa, Asia and the Middle East.

According to a complaint unsealed in U.S.District Court Friday, the Attars own the clinic Nagarwala is accused of using to perform the procedures on girls as young as six. Two victims identified in the case against Nagawala traveled across state lines from Minnesota, but federal prosecutors said multiple girls had the procedure as well.

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The Attars, who are charged with conspiring with Nagarwala to perform the black market FGM procedure on girls approximately 6 to 8 years old, were expected to be arraigned in federal court Friday afternoon. In the original complaint charging Nagarwala with FMG, the government said the young girls thought they taking a “special girls’ trip” or needed to make a long journey to see the doctor because their tummies hurt, and were admonished to stay quiet about the secretive practice.

An attorney representing Nagarwala, who was arraigned on the charges Monday, admitted her client performed FMG procedures, but said they didn’t involve cutting and were done as part of a religious practice common in a small sect of Shia Muslims known as the Dawoodi Bohra. The lawyer, Sarah Smith, said in court that Nagarwala removed removed membranes from the girls’ genitalia, then presented them to their parents for burial.

Anjuman-e-Najmi Detroit, an organization managing the affairs of the local Dawoodi Bohra community, said in a statement Friday that it condemns the practice and encourages its members to follow U.S. law:

“The Dawoodi Bohras do not support the violation of any U.S. law, local, state or federal. We offer our assistance to the investigating authorities. Any violation of U.S. law is counter to instructions to our community members. It does not reflect the everyday lives of the Dawoodi Bohras in America. It is an important rule of the Dawoodi Bohras that we respect the laws of the land, wherever we live. This is precisely what we have done for several generations in America. We remind our members regularly of their obligations. The last such reminder made by the Detroit congregation was in May 2016, and by the Minneapolis congregation in March 2016. It is unfortunate if anyone has not abided by the laws of the country. We are a long-established, well-integrated, successful community in the United States, comprising 12,000 people, many of whom have been settled here since the 1950s. We take our religion seriously but our culture is modern and forward-looking. We are proud that women from our community have high levels of educational attainment and enjoy successful, professional careers.”

Though still practiced in parts of Africa, Asia and the Middle East as a means to curb girls’ and women’s natural sexual urges and exercise dominance in patriarchal societies, FGM has been illegal in the United States for more than two decades. Federal prosecutors said the case against Nagarwala and the Attars is believed to first in the United States on a federal law that criminalizes FGM and makes punishable by up to five years in prison.

Nagarwala was also charged with transportation of an individual with intent to engage in criminal sexual activity, punishable by up to 10 years in prison, and lying to a federal agent. She initially denied having performed the procedures in an interview with a Homeland Security Investigations agent and Michigan Child Protective Services personnel, according to the complaint.

New York City-based Human Rights Watch said that “in some societies, the prevailing myth is that girls’ sexual desires must be controlled early to preserve their virginity and prevent immorality.”
“In other communities,” the New York City-based organization said, “FGM is seen as necessary to ensure marital fidelity and to prevent deviant sexual behavior.”

The Shia Muslim sect Nagarwala belongs to was linked to a mutilation scandal in Australia, The Detroit News reported. The World Health Organization estimates more than 200 million girls and women alive today have undergone the procedure in the 30 countries where FGM concentrated. Another 3 million girls are at risk of being subjected to the procedure every year, the WHO said.

Earlier this year, ABC Australia reported that researchers at Westmead Children’s Hospital in Sydney found pediatricians and children’s health specialists had treated almost 60 girls who had undergone an extreme form FGM — removal of the clitoris — since 2010, but the actual number was probably much higher. They experienced both physical problems, but also psychological issues, according to the study’s author, Elizabeth Elliott, a professor in pediatrics and child health.

“Many of these girls were experiencing physical complications such as urinary tract infections, difficulty passing urine, difficulty with menstruation, but a lot of them were also suffering from psychological consequences of having had the procedure,” Elliott said.

The FBI’s Detroit Field Division has set up a tip line for anyone who has information pertaining to the illegal practice of FGM,Nagarwala or the Attas at (800) 225-5984 (800-CALL-FBI). Tips may also be submitted at fbi.gov.fgm.

Read the complaint below.

Photo via Shutterstock