Sierra Leone: Women journalists stripped and paraded naked

Four women journalists were stripped naked in public in Kenema, Eastern Sierra Leone where they were covering events to mark the International Day against female circumcision (genital mutilation).They were snatched by members of a secret society, forcibly stripped and made to parade naked through the streets on February 9, 2009. They were only freed after the intervention of the police and human rights organizations. They were accused by their aggressors of reporting against female circumcision which is considered an insult to their culture.

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For Kurdish Girls, a Painful Ancient Ritual

The Widespread Practice of Female Circumcision in Iraq's North Highlights The Plight of Women in a Region Often Seen as More Socially Progressive. Launch Photo Gallery

Sheelan Anwar Omer, a shy 7-year-old Kurdish girl, bounded into her neighbor's house with an ear-to-ear smile, looking for the party her mother had promised.

There was no celebration. Instead, a local woman quickly locked a rusty red door behind Sheelan, who looked bewildered when her mother ordered the girl to remove her underpants. Sheelan began to whimper, then tremble, while the women pushed apart her legs and a midwife raised a stainless-steel razor blade in the air. "I do this in the name of Allah!" she intoned.

As the midwife sliced off part of Sheelan's genitals, the girl let out a high-pitched wail heard throughout the neighborhood. As she carried the sobbing child back home, Sheelan's mother smiled with pride.

Read more at: washingtonpost.com