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Nigerian Mum of Triplets Flees Father-in-law to Save Daughters From Circumcision

Nigerian Mum of Triplets Flees Father-in-law to Save Daughters From Circumcision

A Nigerian mum who fled the country to Winnipeg, Canada, to prevent her female triplets from being circumcised like her first daughter has been granted asylum.

Her father-in-law had insisted her first daughter be mutilated when she was three months old, resulting in severe complications which could have taken her life.

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Her lawyer, Bashir Khan, who helped her secure asylum, said,

“This is a horrible cultural practise. The purpose of female genital mutilation is to discourage sexual promiscuity and to promote chastity. Parents subject their daughters to FGM based on the social belief that young women who refuse to undergo this will have difficulty in labour or will be unfaithful to her husband.

She was forced to get in the vehicle and driven to a rural area and … she couldn’t bear to stay there while this was being forcibly done to her daughter. They cut off too much of [the daughter’s] clitoris, and she nearly died from the infection.”

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Judging from this experience, she became worried when she discovered she was pregnant with 3 girls and her father-in-law insisted it’s either she agrees that the triplets will be mutilated when they were born or he’ll force her to abort them.

Gripped by fear, she fled Nigeria while 29 weeks pregnant and arrived Canada in November 2015 where she is reportedly now doing well and hopes to raise her three daughters. She is also said to be applying for a permanent resident status and for her husband and two older children to join her in Canada.

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