An imam in Gothenburg’s largest mosque has been criticised after comparing female genital mutilation (FGM) practices to those who undergo gender reassignment surgeries.
The imam’s comments were set out as part of an email that was framed about being against FGM practices but claimed that gender reassignment surgeries were the first world equivalent of FGM.
” I think it’s good to pay attention to and counteract female genital mutilation and all forms of oppression and abuse,” the imam wrote.
He added: “But what female genital mutilation is the city of Gothenburg talking about? The one made in the name of modernism or the one made in the name of the culture of the primitive, away in the ‘third world’?”
“Why else does the law allow so-called sexual transplants that manipulate both sexes that are even worse? Or do you mean that there is smart mutilation that is ok to have and barbaric mutilation that must be fought?” he added, broadcaster SVT reports.
The imam said that he did not support FGM but added: “Unfortunately I also have to abhor hypocrisy just as much.”
Karolina Mildgrim, a member of the Christian Democrats and chairman of the Gothenburg interreligious council, called the email problematic.
She went on to say: “It is impossible at all to equate. In the case of gender correction, there is firstly a consent, there is a doctor connected and investigations are done.
“They try to alleviate human suffering. But in the case of female genital mutilation, it’s the exact opposite.”
Sweden has seen a problem with cases of FGM in recent years with a report in 2014 claiming that in the city of Norrköping an entire classroom of girls was found to have been victims of the practice.
Cases of gender dysphoria, which can ultimately lead to gender reassignment surgery, have also drastically increased in Sweden in recent years.
According to the Swedish National Board of Health and Welfare, cases of gender dysphoria among girls aged 13 to 17 has increased by a staggering 1,500 per cent since 2008.
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