Egyptian appeals court convicts and sentences doctor in female genital mutilation case
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}An Egyptian lawyer says an appeals court has convicted a doctor of manslaughter and performing a female genital mutilation that killed a 13-year-old girl, sentencing him to two years and three months in prison.
Lawyer Reda al-Danbouki said the verdict Monday was "a triumph for women" and for Sohair el-Batea, who died in 2013. An earlier court had initially acquitted the doctor in a landmark trial.
Rights advocates said the court's decision could serve as a deterrent for doctors and families. Female genital mutilation was criminalized in 2008, but remains widespread in Egypt, where more than 90 percent of women are estimated to have undergone it.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Al-Danbouki said the doctor's clinic was ordered closed for a year, and that el-Batea's father received a three-month suspended sentence.