EGYPT: Parliament criminalizes female circumcision

After weeks of heated deliberations, the Egyptian parliament on Saturday passed new pieces of legislation that impose relatively harsh legal restrictions on female circumcision and allow women for the first time to register their babies even if the father’s identity is unknown.

One law imposes a sentence of a maximum of two years and a fine of a maximum of $1,000 for performing female genital mutilation.  This issue has caused much stir in the people’s assembly, especially among the Muslim Brotherhood, which holds one-fifth of the parliamentary seats. Conservatives maintain that Islam condones the removal of a girl’s clitoris to tame her sexual desires and condemn the amendment as a western import. 

Attention-getting opposition to the bill came from an ostensibly secular MP a couple of weeks ago. Mohamed El-Omda, a member of a marginal opposition party, appeared before the people's assembly with his three daughters to protest the ban. One of his young daughters raised a banner reading: “No to any attempt to forbid what is divinely allowed. No to any attempt to allow what is divinely forbidden.”  El-Omda said that two of his daughters were already circumcised.

EGYPT: Little protest on Mubarak's 80th birthday

Cyberspace activists calling for nationwide protests to upset Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak’s 80th birthday found sparse turnout and little passion.

Few took to the streets, few boycotted work and few wore black. It was another setback for opposition groups and bloggers who have been unable to ignite sustained protests against low wages, rising food prices and political repression.

As word of the protest circulated in recent days over the Internet and in cellphone text messages, the Mubarak government countered with old-school, low-tech politics: Police and security forces were mobilized and the president announced a 30% pay raise for all public employees.

Many Egyptians were temporarily satisfied; others were scared to cross a regime that in April had put down similar protests.

EGYPT: An Islamist's uphill battle

Today's Los Angeles Times features a profile of an Islamic activist who's trying to get his name on the ballot for Egypt's upcoming elections.

Mohammed Shawkat Malt has been thrown in jail, had his computer confiscated by authorities and his request to be put on the ballot ignored.

Still, he's campaigning as a member of the outlawed Muslim Brotherhood, Egypt's largest and oldest Islamic political organization.

Government advocates say that letting Islamists like Malt gain too much political power will doom Egypt to becoming an Islamic state.

He disagreed:

We don't hold the regime as infidels, but we are more passionate in our faith and they don't like that. The Muslim Brotherhood doesn't want a social explosion. It would be bad for everybody. A catastrophe. We don't want the regime to collapse, now we just want a larger voice.

Click here to read the story.

— Times staff writer

Photo: Muhammed Shawkat Malt, a lawyer and an activist member of the Muslim Brotherhood speaks to The Times in his place in the Qattaweya area, 88 miles northeast of Cairo. Credit: Asmaa Waguih / Los Angeles Times