An expert in Pediatric Medicine has testified the 9-year-old daughter of Dr. Fakhruddin Attar and his wife Farida had Female Genital Mutilation performed on her.
The state has taken the parents to court to end their parental rights after the two were criminally charged with assisting another doctor in performing FGM.
These are the first cases to be charged in the United States since it became a federal crime.
Dr. Dena Nazar testified in a hearing before a Referee in Oakland County that she examined the 9-year-old girl at Kids Talk, a child advocacy center and found several physical indications that FGM had been performed. She concluded the scarring and fused tissue were not from any medically necessary procedure.
The Attar’s are charged in connection with Dr. Jumana Nagarwala, who is also charged by the feds with performing FGM on two 7-year-old girls brought here from Minnesota earlier this year.
Those procedures were allegedly done at Dr. Attar’s clinic in Livonia.
All are members of a Muslim Community known as the Dawoodi Borha based in India and attend a Mosque in Farmington Hills.
Two other parents are also facing having their parental rights terminated.
The Attar’s case now moves to a Judge in June.
They are locked up in federal detention and their daughter is living with grandparents. She can talk with her parents on the phone, but it must be in English and they can’t discuss the parents’ trouble.
They were not at the hearing today, but arrangements are being made for them to attend court sessions at the next level.
