Gunmen fighting under the banner of the Islamic State (IS, formally ISIS) in Iraq have issued a decree that all women and girls between the ages of 11 and 46 living in the areas under their control must undergo female genital mutilation, in accordance with their interpretation of Islamic Sharia Law. According to a UN official as many as “four million girls and women could be affected” adding that the practice, also known as female circumcision, has not been widely practiced in Iraq for decades and is only to be found in “certain isolated pockets of the country.” Meanwhile, Fouad Massoum, a 76 year old Kurdish politician has been elected President of Iraq by the legislative assembly in Baghdad Thursday, even as IS gunmen destroyed the ancient Moslem shrine dedicated to the prophet Jonah in Mosul, underlying the challenges facing any new government in the country. Read Morei
