Nigerian Baby Dies During Circumcision In Italy

The baby who was just few weeks old was found dead at home in Genoa, a port city in north-western Italy after emergency services were called in by his Nigerian mother and grandmother.

The ANSA news agency reported;

“The events took place overnight. The two women have been taken in for questioning by Police amid suspicions that a third person attempted the circumcision,’’

ANSA news agency who reported that the Nigerian baby died during a home circumcision, also recounted that on March 25, a five-month-old baby boy from a Ghanaian family living near Reggio Emilia in northern Italy, died in hospital after his parents tried a home circumcision.

There was also a case in December when a 66-year-old man was arrested in connection with the death of a two-year-old boy as a result of a circumcision ritual in a town north-east of Rome.

Circumcisions are expensive and not subsidized by the National Health Service; so, many migrant families try to perform them on their own or rely on unlicensed doctors.

According to Mustafa Qaddurah, a pediatrician and representative of the Islamic Centre of Rome, who spoke to ANSA, “the only solution’’ is for the state to pay for the operations.
Circumcisions are often performed within Muslim and Jewish communities for religious and hygienic reasons. Circumcision is the surgical removal of the foreskin, the tissue covering the head (glans) of the peen. NAN reported that circumcision is an ancient practice that has its origin in religious rites.