Woman jailed for taking child to Kenya for FGM

He added that FGM was a practice that was very widespread in both Somalia and Kenya.

Prosecutor Deanna Heer KC acknowledged the “cultural pressure” in place, but said that Noor “failed to intervene to protect” the girl.

The victim read out a statement in court, which said that she had been affected by the case being in the “public domain”, reflecting how uncomfortable she felt by “strangers discussing [her] body” publicly.

Amina Noor, 40, told the Old Bailey the mutilation is done for cultural reasons and was a procedure she herself had undergone as a child.

During the trial, the court heard that Noor had taken the girl to a ‘clinic’ via tuk-tuk where she was asked to wait outside a private house as the child was mutilated.

When Noor was questioned by police, she denied that anyone had made threats against her to force her to agree to FGM.

During the trial, Noor said she “felt pain” over the threat, saying: “That was a pressure I had no power to do anything about.”

Noor described what had been done to the girl as “Sunnah” – meaning “tradition” or “way” in Arabic – and added it was a practice that had gone on for cultural reasons for a long time.