Amina Noor jailed for handing over British girl in Kenya for female genital mutilation
A woman has been jailed for seven years for helping a person carry out female genital mutilation (FGM) on a three-year-old British girl during a trip to Kenya.
Amina Noor, 40, from Harrow, was sentenced at the Old Bailey in the first conviction of its kind.
The judge called the offence “abhorrent” and “horrific”.
Noor took the child – then aged three – to Kenya in 2006, where she had her entire clitoris removed. This is called Type 1 FGM.
The victim, who is now 21, cannot be identified for legal reasons.
She was 16 years old when she confided in her English teacher at school, who then told police.
Somali-born Noor was convicted in October.
Noor said at trial she feared being “disowned and cursed” by community members if she did not take part in the ritualised cutting – which is almost like a rite of passage into womanhood for many cultures.
The defendant described what had been done as “sunnah”, meaning “prophetic tradition” in Arabic, and claimed it was a historic, cultural and religious practice.
Noor also had a form of FGM performed on her as a child.
‘A life-long trauma’
For FGM survivor turned activist, Hibo Wardere, the practice is nothing short of child abuse.
Like Noor and the victim, she was also cut as a child – when she was six years old.
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FGM survivor Hibo shares her own experience
Now 54, she is helping other FGM victims as the full-time educational lead for the charity Educate, Not Mutilate.
Ms Wardere told Sky News: “FGM is a very hidden, closely kept secret.
“It’s sad women feel duty towards their culture… Amina Noor was wrong to do it. It is utterly wrong.
“FGM is a life-long trauma,” she said.
“It takes more than 10 minutes to urinate. Infection is rife. Intimacy is horrific. It impacts having a child. A one-hour procedure can have repercussions for life.”
Ms Wardere says FGM has terrible mental and physical consequences
Noor is the first person to be found guilty of taking someone to another country for FGM.
She is also only the second in the UK to be convicted under the FGM Act.
The other successful prosecution was in 2019 when a Ugandan woman from Walthamstow, east London, was jailed for 11 years for cutting a three-year-old girl.
The Metropolitan Police said they now hoped more victims would come forward and that it would deter those considering FGM.
“We know FGM can be a taboo subject, which is rarely discussed within families and communities,” said Detective Superintendent Andy Furphy.
“We must build trust with those impacted so we can protect victims. It’s not our job to judge and we will always remain sensitive and respectful.”
Birmingham band UB40 say the city’s striking bin workers and their union should “keep fighting” in their dispute over pay.
It comes as the government and the council urged them to accept a “fair and reasonable offer”.
“We’re fully on their side,” drummer Jimmy Brown told Sky News. “I think they shouldn’t give up, they should still be fighting.
“Working people shouldn’t have to take a reduction in their incomes, which is what we’re talking about here.
“We’re talking about people being paid less and it seems to me with prices going up, heating, buying food, inflation and rents going up then people need a decent wage to have a half decent life… keep going boys!”
Members of the Unite union in Birmingham earlier this month. Pic: PA
Workers joined picket lines again on Thursday, with some fearing they could be up to £600 a month worse off if they accept the terms.
“We have total utter support for the bin men and all trade unions,” said guitarist Robin Campbell.
“The other side is always going to say they’ve made a reasonable offer – the point is they’re the ones who’ve messed up, they’re the ones who’ve gone bankrupt, they’re the ones now trying to reduce the bin men’s wages.”
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Lead singer Matt Doyle told Sky News: “It’s a shame that what we’re seeing is all the images of rats and rubbish building up, that is going to happen inevitably, but we’ve just got to keep fighting through that.”
About 22,000 tonnes of rubbish accumulated on the city’s streets after a major incident was declared last month by Birmingham City Council.
Rubbish has blighted the city’s streets for weeks . Pic: PA
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Bin situation ‘pains me’ – council boss
On a visit to the city, local government minister Jim McMahon said the union and local authority should continue to meet in “good faith” and the government felt there was a deal that could be “marshalled around”.
He paid tribute to the “hundreds of workers” who have worked “around the clock” to clear the rubbish.
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“As we stand here today, 85% of that accumulated waste has been cleared and the council have a plan in place now to make sure it doesn’t accumulate going forward,” said Mr McMahon.
Sky News understands talks are not set to resume until next week.
Trans women in British Transport Police custody will now be strip searched by male officers – not female – following Wednesday’s Supreme Court ruling.
The force said it is introducing an “interim position” while it digests the Supreme Court’s decision that the definition of a “woman” under the Equality Act 2010 refers to “a biological woman and biological sex”.
A British Transport Police (BTP) Authority spokesman told Sky News: “Under previous policy, we had advised that someone with a gender recognition certificate (GRC) may be searched in accordance with their acquired sex.
“However, as an interim position while we digest today’s judgment, we have advised our officers that any same sex searches in custody are to be undertaken in accordance with the biological birth sex of the detainee.”
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In September last year, BTP, which is responsible for policing the UK’s railways and similar transport systems, published its “position” on transgender and non-binary officers carrying out strip searches.
It said officers would “only be able to search persons of the same sex on their birth or gender recognition certificate (GRC).
Officers who identified as another gender but who did not have a GRC were not allowed to, but if a trans woman had a certificate, they could strip search a female detainee.
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Gender ruling – How it happened
Strip searches involve the removal of more than a jacket, outer coat, gloves, headwear and footwear.
They “expose buttocks, genitalia and (female) breasts”, the BTP guidance says.
The Sex Matters campaign applied for a judicial review of that guidance with the High Court in December.
It said the policy “puts detainees at risk of sexual harassment and sexual assault”, and said it was a violation of Article 3 of the European Convention on Human Rights, which protects against torture and inhuman or degrading treatment.
Sex Matters said the policy “also puts female officers in a humiliating and dangerous position, as they may be pressured to search trans-identified men”.
Read more: NHS must stop trans people being allowed on single-sex wars
Campaigners celebrated outside the Supreme Court after Wednesday’s ruling. Pic: PA
One of the High Court judges who made Wednesday’s decision, Lord Hodge, said the ruling should not be read as “a triumph of one or more groups in our society at the expense of another”.
Government minister Karin Smyth told Sky News public bodies have been told to look at how equality laws are implemented following the ruling.
She said: “Obviously, public bodies have been asked to look at their own guidance.
“And we will do that very, very carefully.”
But she warned against public bodies making statements “that may alarm people”, telling them to take their time to look at their guidance.
Baroness Kishwer Falkner, chair of the UK’s Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC), said the ruling means there is “no confusion” now.
She said the NHS will “have to change” its 2019 policy, which says transgender patients are entitled to be accommodated on single-sex wards matching how they identify.
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