Father Acquitted of Daughter's Genital Mutilation

September 12, 2009 HAARLEM, A 30 year old father has been acquitted of the genital mutilation of his 6 year old daughter. In the first female circumcision case ever in the Netherlands, the district court in Haarlem on Friday did convict the man for hitting and biting the girl - to three months in jail. The girl's clitoris and labia minora are missing. The child lives with foster-parents. Her foster-mother discovered the mutilation when the child told her: 'pappa cut me up with a big scissors', the woman and the little girl told the court. Nonetheless, the court took the view that the statements of the foster-mother and that of the girl are insufficient as evidence that the father is the perpetrator. According to the Public Prosecutor (OM), the father, Mustapha El M., should have been given six years in jail. The OM will appeal. El M. of Moroccan origin, accused the OM of discrimination. According to him, the real perpetrators threaten to get away with it. The judges did consider it proven that the father had bitten the girl in the cheeks several times and hit her on her back and in her face. El M. however only received three months jail for this. He had already served this in pre-trial custody, so that he was immediately released Friday.