Minister of Health Ahmed Emad announced Sunday that the cabinet approved a draft amendment to the law on female genital mutilation (FGM) to extend the punishment of its practitioner to reach seven years in prison.
This amendment replaced a previous one, asserting that individuals who are proven to practice FGM should be imprisoned from three months to three years.
It also includes a penalty of 15 years in prison, if the operation has led to permanent disfigurement or death, and a penalty of one to three years for those who force women to undergo FGM.
The minister said that the cabinet sent the law, along with the amendment, to parliament.
After the latest FGM case in Suez, the governor had ordered the shutdown of a private hospital in May, in which a young girl undergoing FGM died due to severe bleeding. Her twin sister also underwent the same operation but survived.
In 2014, Egypt witnessed a significant decline in the prevalence of FGM procedures. According to a national survey, only 48% of girls underwent FGM that year, compared to 78% in 2008.
