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The government and Muslim clerics in the self-declared republic of Somaliland have issued a fatwa, or religious edict, banning some forms of female genital mutilation and promising to punish violators.
The fatwa says it is “forbidden to perform any circumcision that is contrary to the religion [of Islam], which involves cutting and sewing up”, the Voice of America’s news site reports.
It adds that girls who suffered from such circumcision will be eligible for compensation “depending the extent of the wound and the violation caused”.
“Anyone proven to be performing the practice will receive punishment depending on the extent of the violation,” the fatwa says.
Somaliland’s parliament is expected to pass legislation approving the ban after the fatwa was issued by the Ministry of Religious Affairs and religious scholars, reports the BBC’s Ahmed Said from the capital, Hargeisa.
Most people in Somaliland, which broke away from Somalia in 1991, are Muslims.
