Kenyan Police Arrest 7 Women In Anti-FGM Crackdown

Story By: Alex Cope, Sub Editor: Joseph Golder, Agency: Central European News

Kenyan cops have arrested four women who were reportedly about to undergo female genital mutilation along with two females who were allegedly about to carry out the practice on them.

The police operation was carried out in the Keiyo District in western Kenya and saw seven women arrested – the four women allegedly about to undergo the outlawed mutilation, the two suspected practitioners of circumcision and the owner of the house they were in.

The women who were about to undergo the female genital mutilation (FGM) are reportedly between the ages of 21 and 23, with the suspects reportedly aged 70 and 72.

Local media report cops raided the house just before the mutilation began thanks to a tip-off.

Two knives were reportedly seized in the operation.

Local police chief John Mwinzi said that if the officers had delayed for just a “minute” the women would have been circumcised.

He added that during interrogation the women blamed their male partners for pressuring them into undergoing the mutilation.

Some of them were engaged and were allegedly told they would not be married unless they underwent the operation.

The women are being held in court and will reportedly been processed in court today (Wednesday).

FGM has been banned in Kenya since 2011 but has reportedly continued in some communities in secret in homes or underground by healthcare workers.

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