ADDIS ABABA, Ethiopia: About 2,000 people demonstrated on Saturday in the capital to demand the release of an Ethiopian immigrant convicted of the genital mutilation of his 2-year-old daughter and sentenced to 10 years in prison in the U.S.
The protesters, whose demonstration was peaceful and watched from a distance by dozens of policemen, marched around one of the squares in the Ethiopian capital, Emperor Menelik Square, chanting "Free Khalid," referring to Khalid Adem, 30, who was convicted on Nov. 1 by a court in Lawrenceville, Georgia, of aggravated battery and cruelty to children.
During the trial, prosecutors said Khalid used scissors to remove his daughter's clitoris in his family's Atlanta-area apartment in 2001. The child's mother, Fortunate Adem, said she did not discover it until more than a year later.
The couple divorced in 2003 and Khalid's attorney Mark Hill suggested during the trial that the couple's daughter was coached to testify against her father by her mother, who has full custody of the child.
"His trial was not fair ... how is it that Fortunate (Khalid's ex-wife) did not notice that her own daughter had been circumcised for almost two years? How is that possible? She only told the police when they got the divorce to hurt him — to get back at him," Adel Adem, Khalid's brother, told The Associated Press before the demonstration.
Genital mutilation crosses ethnic and cultural lines and is not tied to a particular religion. Activists say it is intended to deny women sexual pleasure. In its most extreme form, the clitoris and parts of the labia are removed and the labia that remain are stitched together.
Knives, razors or even sharp stones are usually used. The tools are frequently not sterilized, and often, many girls are circumcised at the same ceremony, leading to infection.
It is unknown how many girls have died from the procedure, either during the cutting or from infections, or years later in childbirth. Nightmares, depression, shock and feelings of betrayal are common psychological side effects, according to a 2001 U.S. federal report.
Since 2001, the U.S. State Department estimates that up to 130 million women worldwide have undergone genital mutilation.
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