Islamic Scholars In Mauritania Ban Female Genital Mutilation

Magharebia reports that last week in the north African country of Mauritania, 34 Islamic religious scholars and national figures signed a fatwa banning female genital mutilation.  The document was issued at a seminar organized by the Forum of Islamic Thought, and attended by government and religious leaders. Dr. Sheikh Ould Zein Ould Imam, the Forum's secretary general and professor of jurisprudence at the University of Nouakchott, said: "There's no doubt that the fatwa will substantially curb [FGM], since it removes the religious mask such practices were hiding behind. We do need, however, a media campaign to highlight the fatwa, explain it and expound upon its religious and social significance." Magharebia had previously reported that the incidence of female circumcision in Mauritania had reached 72%.