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Link: http://www.ajc.com/metro/content/metro/gwinnett/stories/2006/10/21/1022metAdem.html

Adem was sentenced late Wednesday to 10 years in prison and 5 years probation. Jennifer Leslie Reports 11ALIVE TV

11ALIVE TV Atlanta reported that
Adem was sentenced late Wednesday to 10 years in prison and 5 years probation.


Father Found Guilty in Female Circumcision Trial

11ALIVE TV Atlanta Jennifer Leslie Reports

Dad convicted of mutilation

By LATEEF MUNGIN
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Published on: 11/01/06

A jury found accused mutilator Khalid Adem guilty today.

After deliberating for about four hours the jury of seven women and five men found Adem guilty of aggravated battery and cruelty to children.

It's unclear when Judge Richard Winegarden will sentence Adem. He could face up to 40 years in prison.

Authorities say Adem, 31, circumcised his daughter sometime in 2001 when the girl was 2. Health and human rights activists refer to the procedure as female genital mutilation.

The mother reported the crime in 2003.

The jury apparently chose to believe Adem's young daughter who testified earlier in the trial. The young girl, now 7, told the jury that Adem cut her. Adem cried many times during the trial and he testified that he did not do it and that he loved his daughter. He had blamed his ex-wife and the maternal grandmother of circumcising the girl.

Adem sobbed after the guilty verdict was read. Moments after that his girlfriend, Susie Aaithens, who was in court, collapsed and went into convulsions. The courtroom was cleared and paramedics were called.

Outside the courtroom, the scene quickly deteriorated. Adem supporters began to wail and hold each other. One man, who was taken from the courthouse by sheriff deputies, shouted: "Khalid is not guilty. We need justice."
Source: AJC

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Last Modified: 11/1/2006 2:16:10 PM
11ALIVE TV

A verdict was reached the case of a Gwinnett County man accused of mutilating his daughter Wednesday afternoon.

After less than three hours of deliberations, a jury made up of seven women and five men decided that Khalid Adem is guilty on charges of cruelty to a child and aggravated battery Wednesday afternoon.

Closing statements wrapped up in the case late Tuesday.

Prosecutors contended that Adem, 28, circumcised his daughter when she was 2-years-old. The defense said Adem's ex-wife blamed him for the genital mutilation as part of a custody battle. The couple soon divorced. Adem was denied visitation rights.

While female circumcision is illegal in the U.S., it is practiced in Adem's home country of Ethiopia where it is designed to preserve one's virginity.

The girl's mother, Fortunate Adem, is from South Africa where female circumcision is not accepted. She said she did not find out about the incident until two years later when a doctor discovered a scar on the girl's genitals.

The defense raised the question of why it took two years before her mother noticed.

Adem now faces a possible sentence of 40 years in prison.

Updated Oct 30 2006

Defense: Girl Had False Memory
The defense attorneys for a Gwinnett County man accused of performing a female circumcision on his daughter presented the jury with testimony that the child may have had a false memory about the incident.

The girl's father, Khalid Adem, is on trial for cruelty to a child and aggravated battery. He faces a possible sentence of 40 years in prison if he is convicted.

A clinical psychologist hired by the defense took the stand Monday morning and raised serious doubts about the allegations in the case against Adem. Prosecutors contend that Adem circumcised his daughter when she was 2 years old. The defense said Adem's ex-wife blamed him for the genital mutilation as part of a custody battle.

Read More from 11ALIVE TV Atlanta

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Updated Oct 28 2006

Khalid Adem Takes the Witness Stand. 11ALIVe TV Video Click here

Check
11ALIVE TV website for updates on the trial

Updated Oct 27 2006

A tearful but steadfast Khalid Adem took the stand Friday to say he did not circumcise his two-old daughter.

Khalid Adem weeps during testimony Friday Photo: AJC

Adem also denied to Gwinnett Superior Court jurors that he had ever seen the procedure of female genital mutilation performed on anyone. Adem said he comes from a metropolitan city in Ethiopia that has long given up the practice he called "disgusting."

Read More on AJC

Father denies circumcising daughter

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Fortunate Adem, mother of the now-7-year-old victim, on the witness stand.

More on 11ALIVE TV

Updated Oct 26 2006

Jon Shirek Reports 11ALIVE TV Atlanta

More on 11ALIVE TV ATLANTA

Updated Oct 25 2006


Female Circumcision Trial Starts
Keith Whitney Reports 11ALIVE TV Atlanta

Tears, tension at trial's outset (The Atlanta Journal-Constitution)

Elaine Reyes Reports 11ALIVE TV Atlanta

Jury selection continued Tuesday in the case of an Ethiopian immigrant accused of circumcising his daughter when she was 2 years old. Khalid Adem claims that his ex-wife falsely accused him of the practice during a bitter custody battle.

Both defense attorneys and prosecutors continued to question potential jurors in the Gwinnett County case and said they hope to have a jury seated by late Tuesday or early Wednesday morning.

Prosecutors said Adem used scissors to cut off his daughter's genitals in 2001 at the family's apartment home in Duluth. The girl's mother, Fortunate Adem, is from South Africa where female circumcision is not accepted. She said she did not find out about the incident until two years later when a doctor discovered a scar on the girl's genitals. The couple soon divorced. Adem was denied visitation rights.

While female genital mutilation is practiced in Ethiopia, it is illegal in the United States. A grand jury indicted Adem on charges of aggravated battery and cruelty to children. He could face up to 40 years in prison if convicted.

Source: 11ALIVE TV

Dad stands trial over daughter's 'mutilation'
A father stands accused of the unthinkable: brutally cutting his daughter's genitals.
By LATEEF MUNGIN
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

The girl was only 2.
Monday, activists from all over the world will be focused on a Gwinnett County courtroom as Khalid Adem (Photo Right), accused of cruelty to a child and aggravated battery for allegedly circumcising his daughter, goes on trial.

Adem, 30, was charged with aggravated battery and cruelty to children more than three years ago and, if convicted, could face 40 years in prison. He was born in Ethiopia, where circumcision is a common procedure for young girls.

Adem's trial may be a landmark case for health and human rights activists fighting against the African custom they call genital mutilation. But for those close to the victim, this trial is about vindication and healing for a little girl who was forced to endure unbearable pain.

"When I saw that child I saw myself. I could see the pain in her eyes," said Soraya Mire, a filmmaker and activist who was circumcised when she was 13 in Somalia. Mire is known for her 1994 documentary "Fire Eyes" in which she chronicled her struggles after having the procedure.

Mire, who now lives in Los Angeles, was asked by Gwinnett authorities to counsel the victim in 2003 when it was discovered that she had been circumcised.

"She hugged me, and I just burst into tears," Mire said. "Since that day, I've been obsessed with finding out who did this to that child."

Police say Adem circumcised his daughter with scissors in his Duluth apartment, while someone else held the girl's legs.

Authorities said the circumcision occurred sometime in 2001 but the mother didn't discover it until two years later. The mother told police she learned about it while arguing with Adem about female circumcision. The mother told police that she told Adem she didn't want that to happen to their daughter, but Adem implied the circumcision had already occurred.

The mother went to a doctor who confirmed that the girl had been circumcised. The girl then told Gwinnett authorities that her father had done it. He was arrested in March 2003.

Adem has said through his defense attorney W. Mark Hill that he was innocent. Hill said the allegations stem from a bitter divorce and custody battle the couple was going through at the time. Hill has said the family of the girl's mother, Fortunate Adem, also is from Africa and could have performed the circumcision.

Georgia law changed

The African practice of female circumcision has been denounced for decades by health and human rights activists. In some areas in Africa, it is considered a coming-of-age ritual.

Opponents claim the procedure, which may involve the removal of the clitoris or all of the external genitalia, is extremely painful, medically unnecessary and unsafe. It is illegal in the United States and has been condemned by the United Nations.

The centuries-old practice is performed for many reasons, including to curtail sex drive and preserve virginity. It also is a prerequisite for marriage in some cultures, experts say.

After Adem was arrested, activists and educators flocked to metro Atlanta to denounce genital mutilation. A four-day conference on the practice sponsored by international women's rights group Equality Now was held in Atlanta three months after his arrest. The conference was originally supposed to be in Nairobi, Kenya, but was moved to Atlanta because of the national interest following Adem's arrest, said Taina Bien-Aime, executive director of Equality Now.

It is difficult to document the number of female circumcision prosecutions in the United States. Although Congress passed a law in 1996, many states still do not have their own laws forbidding the practice. But experts who follow the issue say arrests for female circumcision are rare.

"To our knowledge, this was the first documented case of [female circumcision] in the United States," said Bien-Aime, whose organization, which has offices in New York, London and Africa, has been following the issue since 1992. "We will be monitoring the trial and hope that it will help bring awareness to the issue."

Adem's arrest also had an impact on Georgia law. In 2003, there was no state law in Georgia that addressed female circumcision. That's why Adem was charged with aggravated battery and cruelty to children.

After her ex-husband's arrest, Fortunate Adem worked with Rep. Mary Margaret Oliver (D-Decatur) to get a law passed outlawing female circumcision. The law was enacted in May 2005.

If Khalid Adem had been arrested after the new law was in place, he could have faced an additional 20 years for the genital mutilation charge.

Fortunate Adem refused to comment for this article but has said her daughter suffered severe pain since the circumcision.

"Her whole life has been changed," she said. "She is going to be traumatized psychologically. Parts of her body have been taken away from her without her consent. They need to look at this child the same way they would if she had been raped."

Father claims innocence

Hill will handle the defense case and plans to call eight to 10 witnesses. He said he is trying to get three of Adem's sisters to Gwinnett from Ethiopia to testify that they had not been circumcised.

Another key piece of evidence will be the taped interview of the victim in which she told Gwinnett authorities that Adem cut her with scissors. It's unknown whether the girl, now 7, will be called to testify.

Gwinnett Assistant District Attorney Marty First will handle the prosecution's case. First declined to comment or give any details about the case.

"I will try this case in the courtroom, not in the media," First said.

While much has been heard from Fortunate Adem through her efforts in changing Georgia law, this will be the first time that Khalid Adem will publicly tell his side of the story.

He will testify and proclaim his innocence, Hill said.

Adem bonded out of jail a week after he was arrested and continues to work as a clerk at the same Snellville gas station he did before his arrest, Hill said.

Hill said there are major problems with the prosecution's case and that Adem was arrested primarily on the word of the then-2-year-old girl who could have been coached by a mother desperate to get custody. Another problem in the case, Hill said, is that the alleged circumcision, which took place in 2001, wasn't discovered or reported to police until two years later.

"What mother would not know that this has happened to their daughter for two years?" he said.

Hill said the couple's history of problems also led him to question the prosecution's charges.

Khalid Adem immigrated to the United States from Ethiopia when he was 16, Hill said. Fortunate Adem moved to this country from South Africa when she was 6, according to court documents. The two met at Georgia Perimeter College in Clarkston. The couple was married, and their daughter was born on Sept. 8, 1999. The couple had a contentious marriage and was divorced by August 2003.

Fortunate Adem was awarded full custody of the child. Adem was not granted visitation rights.

The trial is expected to last about two weeks. Jury selection will begin Monday morning.

Mire, who plans to follow the trial, said this case is about finding the truth for the little girl she once held and cried for.

"My main focus is the girl," Mire said. "I hope that she gets everything that she needs. I am a survivor of this. I know the pain that she is still going to feel. It is brutal and terrible. I wouldn't wish this on my worst enemy."