CAIRO, Jun 21 (Aswat Masriya) – The Egyptian prosecution received a forensics report on Tuesday confirming that a 17 year old girl from Suez died during a circumcision operation.

The 17-year-old girl, Mayar, died on May 26 after bleeding followed by a sharp fall in blood circulation.

The forensics report also confirmed that her sister underwent the operation, but the date was not identified.

Earlier in June, the prosecution ordered the detention of Mayar’s mother over accusations of involuntary manslaughter and causing a wound that led to death.

The prosecution accused the doctor who performed the operation as well as the anesthesiologist with the same offences. The former is still at large, while the latter has been released on a bail of EGP 10,000 pending investigation.

The mother, who denied that it was a circumcision operation, expressed regret over the death of her daughter and said she did not know the operation would claim her daughter’s life.

Suez Governor Ahmed al-Haiatmi ordered the closure of the private hospital in Suez where the girl had the operation.

Egypt banned Female Genital Mutilation (FGM) in 2008 but it is still widely practised especially in rural areas.

Article 242 bis of the penal code sets a punishment of not less than three months imprisonment and not more than two years imprisonment or a fine of not less than one thousand pounds and not exceeding five thousand pounds, on anyone who causes the injury which is punishable by Articles 241 and 242 of the penal code due to FGM.

According to United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), the practice of female genital mutilation conducted on girls between 15 and 17 has dropped from 74 percent in 2008 to 61 percent in 2014.

UNDP said in a statement late May, "in Egypt 82% percent of female circumcisions are performed by trained medical personnel." The UN called on health professionals "to take a strong stand to stop the medicalisation of FGM."