Imam Baba Leigh: "FGM is not a private issue. It is a throughout the world issue"

A prominent Muslim activist and cleric, who was thrown into prison in his property country of The Gambia for speaking out against the government, has come out in help of the Guardian-backed campaign to highlight the plight of females and women in the US who are forced to undergo female genital mutilation (FGM).

Imam Baba Leigh advised the Guardian that he supports a campaign by Jaha Dukureh, a 24-yr-old survivor of FGM, to petition the US government to produce a extensive plan to finish FGM and provide companies to folks who have already been subjected to the practice.

“We all want to support her for the straightforward reality that she is a top witness,” said Leigh, adding that even though he can campaign against it, Dukureh skilled the practice first-hand and is aware of far better than most how it affects people.

Leigh, who now lives in Maryland soon after fleeing The Gambia following his release from prison final yr, stated: “FGM is not a individual issue. It is a throughout the world issue.”

The first stage of Dukureh’s national campaign against FGM is a petition to get the Obama administration to commission a report that would update statistics on the prevalence of women subjected to FGM in the US, which had collected far more than 62,200 signatures by Tuesday afternoon.

While some people associate FGM with Islam and declare the religion condones it, individuals of a number of religions engage in the practice, and it is not supported in the Qur’an. “The bodily harm that it leads to to a younger, innocent woman, cannot be supported by Islam,” Leigh mentioned.

Leigh’s human rights advocacy has manufactured him a government target in The Gambia. He was arrested in December 2012 and held for a lot more than 5 months after publicly condemning the execution of 9 prisoners by the Gambian government. Prior to his arrest, the government threatened Leigh for his criticism of the president and advocacy function on problems such as FGM.

“The practice is cultural, it’s classic, it’s deeply rooted culture but it’s not religious,” Leigh explained. This traditional practice is responsible for the death of his older sister, at the age of 29, an additional key cause he does not assistance FGM.

The Guardian along with Congressman Joe Crowley, UN secretary standard Ban Ki Moon and a lot more than 50,000 folks are backing Dukureh’s campaign to get the US government to commission a report on FGM in the US.

Leigh believes the practice will finish at some point. “I consider it is a matter of time that it will quit, in the sense that much more men and women are sensitized now and folks are much more educated about the side effects of it and it has been witnessed also as a violation of child’s rights,” Leigh stated. “It is a violation of women’s rights. At the finish of the day, it is a violation of human rights because girls are human beings as well.”

Imam Baba Leigh: "FGM is not a private issue. It is a throughout the world issue"