2,000 Mutilated Girls Sought Treatment at London Hospitals

Martin Bentham

FrontPage

True number of FGM victims in capital is ‘far more than figures show’

More than 2,000 victims of female genital mutilation have sought treatment at London hospitals in the past three years.

The figures, revealed by the Standard today, are the most dramatic illustration so far of the impact of the barbaric practice in the capital. They also show that 298 operations to reverse unlawful “cutting” of London women have been carried out.

Hundreds of others have received treatment in an attempt to ease their pain. Cases include one girl with an “open wound” and at least 12 more involving children. The statistics have been drawn from Freedom of Information requests to seven London hospital trusts with specialist services for FGM victims. They represent the most comprehensive measure yet of the problem. A total of 2,115 FGM patients were seen between 2010 and summer this year.

Doctors and campaigners said the findings were “horrifying” and called for a renewed drive by police, prosecutors and others to bring perpetrators of the crime to justice. But they warned that the reluctance of some women to seek treatment, and flaws in hospital record-keeping, including the lack of a specific code to identify FGM cases, meant that the true number of victims was certain to be even higher.

Dr Comfort Momoh, a specialist in treating FGM who runs the African Well Woman’s Clinic at St Thomas’ Hospital, said: “These statistics show a very significant number of women are being treated for FGM, but there are still lots out there who are not being identified because they don’t know where to go for help, aren’t being referred by GPs or are too scared to come forward.

“I’m really worried about girls, in particular. Where are they going to seek help? The GPs who are their first point of call often don’t have the knowledge. We also need teachers and lecturers to do more to at least signpost girls towards help.”

Dr Momoh said new guidelines from the Department of Health and medical professional bodies were essential, so information about victims and girls at risk could be passed to social services and other agencies without deterring women from reporting their plight.

She added: “FGM can cause lifelong pain and the pyschological impact can be really severe, with women suffering flashbacks every time they have sexual relations. Much more must be done to prevent it.”

Efua Dorkenoo, of charity Equality Now, said: “These figures highlight the horrifying scale of this criminal practice and prove, once again, that too little is happening to stop women and girls from suffering. This is a growing problem, which requires investment in prevention. The Government needs to implement a national action plan, which recognises the need to treat survivors physically and emotionally — but which also focuses on preventing FGM from happening in the first place.”

Among the victims who have spoken out in a bid to prevent more girls suffering is Londoner Nimco Ali, 29. She was taken to Somalia to be cut at the age of seven and now runs the Daughters of Eve charity, which helps victims and girls at risk of mutilation.

The data, which covers women and girls treated for FGM since the start of 2010, shows the African Well Woman’s Clinic has had the largest number of patients. It treated 927 victims, including 178 who had surgery to reverse FGM between 2010 and the end of 2012. Further such operations have been conducted this year.

Read more Mutilated Girls…at London Hospitals

The Battle for Baghdad has Begun

Pamela Geller

180,000 people Flee Western Iraq as Islamic State inches ever closer to Baghdad. TIME Magazine reports the Sunni jihadist group has largely consolidated control over western Iraq as terrified civilians flee its advance. Iraqi security forces evacuated another military base in restive Anbar province on Monday in the face of an offensive by the Islamic State of Iraq and Greater Syria (ISIS)…

The battle for Baghdad has begun and should it fall the consequences will be staggering. Patrick Poole lays out the 5 key implications if Baghdad falls to ISIS: Reports that ISIS has surrounded Baghdad and is quickly closing in on the Baghdad International Airport (armed with MANPADS, no less) are troubling. Baghdad itself has been rocked by a series of VBIED attacks in the past 24 hours by ISIS, indicating that the battle for Baghdad has begun. The possible fall of Baghdad could be the most significant development in the War on Terror since 9/11. And yet many among the D.C. foreign policy “smart set” were not long ago mocking such a scenario. So what happens if such a situation comes to pass? Here are five key implications (by no means limited to these) if Baghdad falls to ISIS: 1) ISIS will not be claiming to the be the Islamic State, they will BE the Islamic State Symbolism doesn’t matter much to your average post-modern Westerner, but it still does in the Islamic world and the capture of Baghdad will hold enormous value. For 500 years Baghdad was the seat of the Abbasid Caliphate, and falling to ISIS would allow them to reclaim that mantle. Such an event will electrify the Middle East and beyond, with many Muslims holding firmly to the belief that the abolition of the Ottoman caliphate in 1924 by Ataturk is seen as one of the key contributing factors in the decline of the Muslim world over the past century. No amount of State Department hashtags or tweets, nor pronouncements by Sheikh Barack Obama and Imam John Kerry that there is nothing Islamic about the Islamic State, will be able to negate any claims by ISIS to be the revived caliphate. 2) The Great Reconciliation between jihadist groups will begin Much of the Obama administration’s anti-ISIS efforts have been trying to leverage other “vetted moderate” groups in Syria against ISIS, with some “smart set” thinkers even advocating engaging “moderate Al-Qaeda” to that end. We are already seeing jihadist groups gravitating towards ISIS, such as the announcement this week by Pakistani Taliban leaders pledging their allegiance to the Islamic State. Other groups of younger jihadis are breaking away from Al-Qaeda franchises in North Africa and defecting to ISIS. Despite bitter rivalries between ISIS and other jihadist groups in Syria, namely Al-Qaeda’s official Syrian affiliate Jabhat al-Nusra, they will be hard-pressed to deny ISIS’ caliphate claims if they do take Baghdad. In that part of the world, nothing succeeds like success. If Baghdad falls, jihadist groups, some of whom have been openly hostile or remained neutral, will quickly align behind ISIS. And the horrid sound coming out of Washington DC will be of foreign policy paradigms imploding.

Read more The Battle for Baghdad…

Państwo Islamskie wydało czwarty numer angielskojęzycznego magazynu “Dabiq”; wzywa do ataków na obywateli krajów, które uczestniczą w atakach koalicji przeciwko IS

Memri

Poniższy raport jest darmową próbką MEMRI Jihad and Terrorism Threat Monitor (JTTM). Informacja o prenumeracie JTTM znajduje się tutaj .

12 października 2014 r. IS opublikowało czwarty numer swojego angielskojęzycznego magazynu “Dabiq”. Numer, który nosi tytuł „Nieudana krucjata” przedstawia flagę IS powiewająca triumfalnie przed Bazyliką Św. Piotra w Rzymie. Magazyn zawiera wiele gróźb i wielokrotnie przytacza słowa rzecznika IS, Abu Muhammada Al-Adnaniego z wideo z 21 września (patrz raport MEMRI “Responding to US-Led Campaign, IS Spokesman Calls to Kill Westerners, Including Civilians, By Any Means”). [1]

Fragmenty tego wideo zawierają, co następuje: „A więc obiecujemy wam [o, krzyżowcy] z pozwolenia Allaha, że ta kampania będzie waszą ostatnią kampanią. Zostanie złamana i pokonana, tak jak wszystkie wasze poprzednie kampanie zostały złamane i pokonane, tylko tym razem my potem najedziemy na was, a wy nigdy nie najedziecie na nas. Zdobędziemy Rzym, połamiemy wasze krzyże, weźmiemy do niewoli wasze kobiety, za zezwoleniem Allaha, Wzniosłego” oraz: „Zapłacicie cenę, kiedy załamią się wasze gospodarki. Zapłacicie cenę, kiedy wasi synowie zostaną wysłani na wojnę przeciwko nam i wrócą do was okaleczeni, z amputacjami, lub w trumnach albo chorzy psychicznie. Zapłacicie cenę, tak jak boicie się podróżować do jakiegokolwiek kraju. Zamiast tego zapłacicie cenę, chodząc po waszych ulicach, skręcając w prawo i lewo, bojąc się muzułmanów. Nie będziecie czuć się bezpiecznie nawet w waszych sypialniach”.

Dodatkowe groźby wycelowane są w narody, które uczestniczą w koalicji nalotów przeciwko IS: “W tym momencie krucjaty przeciwko Państwu Islamskiemu jest bardzo ważne, by miały miejsce ataki w każdym kraju, który wszedł do sojuszu przeciwko Państwu Islamskiemu, szczególnie USA, Wielka Brytania, Francja, Australia i Niemcy. Obywatele narodów krzyżowców powinni być obierani za cel [wszędzie], gdzie tylko można ich znaleźć”.

Inna groźba brzmi: “Każdy muzułmanin powinien wyjść z domu, znaleźć krzyżowca i zabić go. Ważne jest, by zabijanie zostało przypisane patronom Państwa Islamskiego, którzy byli posłuszni swoim przywódcom. Można to z łatwością zrobić anonimowo. Inaczej media krzyżowców przedstawiają takie ataki jako przypadkowe zabójstwa. Należy zachować tajemnicę przy planowaniu i przeprowadzaniu ataku. Im mniejsza liczba ludzi bierze udział i im mniej dyskusji przedtem, tym bardziej prawdopodobne, że zostanie to przeprowadzone bez problemów. Nie należy komplikować ataków przez wciąganie więcej stron, kupowanie skomplikowanych materiałów lub komunikowanie się z bojaźliwymi osobami”.