Nigerian couple arrested for genitally mutilating daughters

Girls, aged four and 10, infibulated during trip to home country

(ANSA) - Perugia, August 7 - Police have arrested a Nigerian couple on charges of grave bodily harm for genitally mutilating their two daughters, who are aged four and 10, law enforcement sources said Thursday. The couple living in a village near the city of Perugia was reported by a public health doctor and by social services.

While the female genital mutilation (FGM) may have been carried out abroad, the parents are liable in Italy because both children were born and reside here, police said. The couple was placed under house arrest because the court considered them a flight risk, the sources said. In Italy, ritual female genital mutilation is punishable with four to 12 years in prison. Italy was the first western country to oppose FGM in the 1980s, and co-sponsored a 2012 UN resolution banning the practice, which affects 140 million children worldwide.