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Doctors for one patient described the stitching as “the equivalent of a female circumcision,” the lawsuit said.

Somalia tops the list of countries where the practice, also known as female circumcision, is prevalent, with 99% of the female population between the ages of 15 and 49 having been circumcised.

“She has employed her many positions of authority to argue passionately that female circumcision is against the teachings of Islam, and deeply harmful to women.”

He publicly denounced the World Bank's structural adjustment programmes, banned female circumcision and polygamy, and was one of the first African leaders to raise awareness about HIV/AIDS.

Her business is female circumcision, learned at the age of 15, performed hundreds of times and now being passed along to her daughters.