Former Nottingham University student sentenced for female genital mutilation charge

A former Nottingham student who was found guilty of female genital mutilation charges has now been sentenced.

Emad Kaky, who was studying for his PhD at Nottingham University at the time of the offence will face four and a half years in prison.

Last month, the 47-year-old became only the third person in England and Wales to be convicted under the FGM Act.

He is now also the first person to be jailed for female genital mutilation conspiracy in the two nations.

Kaky had planned to get a young girl to travel from UK to Iraq where she would be mutilated and forced into an arranged marriage.

However, a witness discovered the plans and reported Kaky to police before the FGM took place. The girl was also returned from Iraq to the UK.

Messages were taken from the defendant’s phone which showed how when Kaky was challenged by a witness, he said what he was doing was “normal”.

Janine McKinney, Chief Crown Prosecutor for CPS East Midlands, said: “Today, Emad Kaky has faced the consequences of his actions in trying to get a young, innocent girl subjected to female genital mutilation and to be forced into a marriage not of her choosing.

She added that had Kaky succeeded in his plans, the girl “would have suffered unimaginable physical and mental harm”.

Ms McKinney continued by saying that the prosecution presented evidence that proved Kaky saw his behaviour to be normal, and calls the trial a “landmark prosecution”.

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Speaking to the Crown Prosecution Service, she said: “This has been a landmark prosecution, not just because it is the first conviction of its kind, but for the message it sends to people who may be vulnerable to this horrific form of abuse. Where there is evidence that people have plotted to commit these offences, they face prosecution, whether or not they succeed.”

Upon sentencing, the prosecution explained that the case should be sentenced on the basis of the harm that Kaky intended to do to the young girl by arranging for FGM to take place, not by the fact the act of FGM had not yet happened.

However, junior defence barrister Geraldine Kelly, told Nottingham Crown Court that the victim had been spared of the “physical and mental trauma” that she would have faced had the mutilation taken place.

She added that Kaky’s academic success was “respected” and “impressive” so by losing his job as a visiting scholar, that was in itself “a form of punishment”.

When Kaky was sentenced, Judge Nirmal Shant KC called Kaky’s planned FGM offence “barbaric”.

According to Sky News, she said: “There are many complexities involved in prosecuting this type of offending, which can be committed in close-knit communities, historically, and abroad, but this is no barrier to the CPS prosecuting wherever our legal test is met.

“We are clear there is no place for this unacceptable practice in society. We will continue to work tirelessly with our partners to safeguard and support victims of FGM and bring perpetrators to justice.”

She added: “When considering the seriousness of the offence I look not just at the harm that occurred, it didn’t in this case but, in fact, the intended harm.

“You made concerted efforts to make sure this happened. I make, nonetheless, some adjustment for the fact that no FGM took place, and importantly, thankfully, [the girl] was unaware of any of these plans.

“This offence calls for a deterrent sentence. What you did, what you had planned, was barbaric.”

According to the World Health Organisation (WHO), FGM “comprises all procedures that involve partial or total removal of the external female genitalia, or other injury to the female genital organs for non-medical reasons.”

It “has no health benefits for girls and women” and the organisation say it can cause severe bleeding, infections, complications in childbirth, and problems urinating.

WHO also explained on its website that “the practice of FGM is recognised internationally as a violation of the human rights of girls and women. It reflects deep-rooted inequality between the sexes and constitutes an extreme form of discrimination against girls and women.”

Feature image via Nottinghamshire Police/Crown Prosecution Service

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