I/II. http://i100.independent.co.uk/article/no-the-islamic-state-has-not-ordered-all-women-to-undergo-fgm--lyuebSA6Wl No, the Islamic State has not ordered all women to undergo FGM Posted 3 days ago by Rosie Collington, Dina Rickman and Matthew Champion in news
A United Nations representative has claimed the Islamic State has ordered all girls and women in and around Mosul to undergo female genital mutilation (FGM), but i100 understands the story to be false. Jacqueline Badcock, the UN resident and humanitarian coordinator in Iraq, told reporters in Geneva via videolink from Erbil that the "fatwa" issued by the militant group, formerly known as Isis, would affect 4million females aged between 11 and 49. i100 earlier reported on a supposed edict from the Islamic State that had been circulating on social media, and was told by an expert in the region that it was most likely a hoax. A UN spokesman in Geneva told Reuters said that they were seeking clarity and trying to establish the facts. a supposed edict from the Islamic State that had been circulating on social media Translation of above text: "Out of fear for the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria and our Islamic society, as a result of the spread of immorality and vice between sons and daughters of Allah. For the honour of our lord and for the faithful... "A resolution is issued to all states that female circumcision is honourable in itself and for the Caliphate, emir of the believers..." Shiraz Maher, a Senior Fellow at King's College London specialising in the Middle East, had looked at the image for i100 - before the UN's claims - and concluded it was a fake, likely spread by one of the many, many groups opposed to Isis. Mr Maher told us FGM was more "cultural" rather than having a specific association with Islamism, adding that it is "not something jihadists have ever really taken up" or "spoken about". Ms Badcock herself acknowledged that the order would represent a departure for the jihadists in her initial statement. "This is something very new for Iraq, particularly in this area, and is of grave concern and does need to be addressed," she told journalists. "This is not the will of Iraqi people, or the women of Iraq in these vulnerable areas covered by the terrorists." It is unclear whether the UN representative's comments were a reaction to the above image, or reflect other information. However, Mr Maher later told us: "Locals in Mosul, including doctors, say this is just a hoax. That's also my gut feeling." Other experts have also expressed scepticism at the supposed fatwa. Nimco Ali, co-founder of anti-FGM organisation Daughters of Eve, told i100 FGM was about controlling women rather than "controlling women." "It is similar to Islamic courts taking over in Somalia in 2008. This has got nothing to do with religion, it's got nothing to do with culture, it's about men flexing their misogynist bullshit. They're scared women will get their God-given rights. "If you speak to people who say that they want to create an Islamic state, they are really saying they want to create a state controlled by men. "It's shocking. None of these things are sanctioned by Islam. The first teaching of Islam is to read, have any of them read the Koran themselves? "I'm quite scared people are going to start thinking that FGM is about Islam. But it's about violence against women and girls. I'm more scared for the women in these countries and what their lives are going to be like now. "This is has got nothing to do with faith, this is about people using religion to hide their hate and contempt for women." II. http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/jul/24/isis-deny-ordering-fgm-girls-mosul Isis denies ordering that all girls in Mosul undergo FGM Doubts grow over UN report, seemingly reliant on year-old document from Syria thought to have been doctored Ian Black and Fazel Hawramy The Guardian, Thursday 24 July 2014 18.29 BST An Iraqi Christian family in the village of Qaraqush after fleeing Mosul. Photograph: Safin Hamed/AFP/Getty Images Jihadi extremists who have taken over the Iraqi city of Mosul have denied ordering families to have their daughters undergo female genital mutilation in order to prevent "immorality" or face severe punishment, as claimed by a senior UN humanitarian official on Thursday. Supporters of the Islamic State (Isis), previously known as the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant, dismissed the story as propaganda based on a fake document - though residents of Mosul, as well as Kurdish officials, insisted it was true. The claim about enforced FGM came from the UN's deputy humanitarian coordinator in Iraq, Jacqueline Badcock, who told reporters that up to 4 million women and girls aged 11-46 faced the risk of genital mutilation. "This is something very new for Iraq, particularly in this area, and is of grave concern and does need to be addressed," she said. "This is a fatwa from Isis. This is not the will of Iraqi people, or the women of Iraq in these vulnerable areas covered by the terrorists." Reports about the issue have been circulating in Iraqi media for the past few days. On Wednesday a Kurdish website, BasNews, reported that the fatwa had been issued by the self-proclaimed "Caliph" of the Islamic State, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, as a "gift" to the people of Mosul. BasNews said on Thursday that it stood by its story. "Of course Isis would deny this," the editor, Hawar Abdulrazaq, told the Guardian. Badcock's comments came in a briefing by videolink from her base in Irbil, capital of the Kurdish regional government, to reporters at the UN headquarters in Geneva. But plans for a statement by the UK international development secretary, Justine Greening, were dropped as doubts grew about the accuracy of the claim. Suspicions about its veracity were based partly on the fact that FGM is not required by Islam and is not prevalent in Iraq. It is most widespread in Egypt, Sudan and east Africa. A document circulating on social media purporting to be the Isis fatwa was in fact dated July 2013, originated in Aleppo, Syria, and was widely described as having being photoshopped. It appeared on Thursday on the website of the Saudi-owned TV channel al-Arabiya. Ahmed Obaydi, a spokesman for Mosul police, told BasNews: "Baghdadi's decision to have all women circumcised is, as he claims, to prevent immorality and promote Islamic attitudes among Muslims. The decision was made by Baghdadi as a 'gift' for people in Mosul." But Mohammed, a local journalist, told the Guardian he knew no one who had been told by Isis that their female relatives should undergo FGM. "This is mainly media hype with no substance," he said. Isis supporters quickly dismissed the story as a hoax. "If Isis responds to every lie and rumour they will not be able to control all these areas you hear about," tweeted one. "Please ask UN to prove their claims before you hear from us." The same Twitter account, whose name is derived from an Arabic word meaning "monster", contains multiple images of the decapitated heads of Syrian soldiers taken in the Raqqa areas near the Iraqi border. According to the Iraqi paper al-Mustaqbal, which also reported on the alleged fatwa earlier this week, the practice of FGM is alien to Iraqi society except the Kurdish provinces. Worldwide, more than 130 million girls and women have undergone FGM. The FGM story broke against a background of wider concern about the situation in Mosul, whose Christian community has been forced to flee under threat of forced conversion or execution by jihadists who have turned churches into mosques and confiscated property. Iraq's prime minister, Nouri al-Maliki, has lambasted Isis for its "criminality and terrorism". Last weekend Isis gave the city's Christians a stark choice: convert to Islam, pay a religious tax, or face death. -- Peace Is Doable -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Green Youth Movement" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [email protected]. To post to this group, send an email to [email protected]. Visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/greenyouth. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.
