Doubts are growing about the authenticity of an
edict attributed to the Sunni Islamist group Isis
controlling the Iraqi city of Mosul about female
genital mutilation (FGM).
A top UN official quoted from a statement saying
that Isis wanted all females aged between 11 and
46 in the northern city to undergo the procedure.
Jacqueline Badcock said the decree was of grave
concern.
But media analysts say the decree seen on social
media may be a fake.
It has typos and language mistakes and is signed
by "The Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant", a
name the group no longer uses, instead referring
to itself as the Islamic State.
Some bloggers suggest that the alleged fatwa,
which has been circulated on social media for
about two days, may have been aimed at
discrediting Isis.
Iraq is facing a radical Isis-led insurgency, with
Mosul and other cities in the north-west under
militant control.
The ritual cutting of girls' genitals is practised by
some African, Middle Eastern and Asian
communities in the belief it prepares them for
adulthood or marriage.
FGM poses many health risks to women, including
severe bleeding, problems urinating, infections,
infertility and increased risk of newborn deaths in
childbirth.
The UN General Assembly approved a resolution
in December 2012 calling for all member states to
ban the practice.
Christians fled
Earlier, Ms Badcock warned that the alleged Isis
edict could affect nearly four million women and
girls in and around the northern Iraqi city of
Mosul.
The UN's resident and humanitarian co-ordinator
in Iraq said the practice "is something very new
for Iraq... and does need to be addressed".
She was talking to reporters via video link from
the Kurdish provincial capital, Irbil.
Tens of thousands of men, women and children
have fled the violence in Mosul since June
Jenan Moussa, a correspondent for Dubai-based
broadcaster Al AAan TV, said in a tweet that her
contacts in Mosul had not heard of the edict.
Isis militants seized Mosul, Iraq's second largest
city, in June, and have since taken over areas of
the north-west and closed in on cities near
Baghdad.
The group forced Christians in Mosul out of the
city earlier this week and daubed their houses
with the Arabic letter N to mark them out as
Christians, apparently confiscating their
properties, BBC Arab affairs editor Lina Sinjab
says.
http://bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-28466434

Yeah. Sounds suspicious.

How would they know if one is circumcised or not? Will they start asking women to strip down now? This news sounds like a provocation propaganda.