The British Medical Journal reports that a former pediatric surgeon in England has been jailed for over 5.5 years for operating an unsafe child circumcision service.
https://www.bmj.com/content/388/bmj.r94.full

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A former paediatric surgeon has been jailed for five years and seven months for offences committed while operating an unsafe and unsanitary mobile child circumcision service.

Mohammad Siddiqui, 58, was sentenced at Inner London Crown Court after pleading guilty in October at Southwark Crown Court to 12 counts of assault occasioning actual bodily harm, five counts of child cruelty, and eight counts of administering a prescription only drug to young and vulnerable patients while ignoring basic hygiene rules.

He operated the private home service between June 2012 and November 2013 while working for the NHS as a clinical fellow in paediatric surgery at University Hospital Southampton NHS Foundation Trust. In this role he was able to source the local anaesthetic bupivacaine hydrochloride, a prescription only drug.

In 2015 he was struck off the medical register for various failures in performing circumcisions in the homes of four babies. In one case a baby was left with loss of skin on the penis shaft and had to undergo an operation. In another case he failed to recognise that the baby was having a seizure.

There is no requirement for ritual circumcisers to be medical professionals, and Siddiqui continued to circumcise boys between 2015 and 2019.

In his sentencing remarks on 15 January, Judge Noel Lucas called for regulation of people performing circumcisions “as a matter of urgency, to ensure that babies and young children are protected.”

He pointed out that “anyone, whether they have any medical experience and training or not, is permitted to carry out non-therapeutic ritual circumcisions. These procedures are usually carried out on children who because of their age are the most vulnerable members of society.

“No training is either available or required for a person to carry out such a procedure. No guidelines have been set. No independent body oversees those who conduct such procedures. In many instances the procedures are carried out in private homes or behind closed doors.”

He told Siddiqui, “In your many attempts to obstruct and hinder your trial taking place, you have made many wholly unjustified complaints that your prosecution was motivated by Islamophobia and that persons of other religions or sects who perform circumcisions ‘get away with it.’ It must be clearly understood by anyone of whatever religion, creed, or sect who performs circumcisions or other procedures on children that if they fail to carry out those procedures competently, meaning in a safe and sanitary manner, without causing the patient unnecessary pain and suffering, they will risk prosecution and a potential prison sentence.”

Anja Hohmeyer of the Crown Prosecution Service said, “Siddiqui practised these circumcising acts in an unsafe and unsanitary environment and left children with emotional and physical scars as a result of his actions. He showed a complete disregard for the impact of his actions on his victims, families, and communities. The delays Dr Siddiqui has caused to disrupt and elongate court proceedings while ultimately undertaking his own defence also need to be recognised.

“His actions throughout the court process have caused significant further disruption and distress to his victims and their families, alongside significant additional legal costs due to the length of the delays he has caused. We hope that this conviction offers draws [the BMJ apparently intended to use either “offers” or “draws” and inadvertently included both of them in this sentence] a line for all of those affected and brings some comfort to them in seeing Siddiqui being brought to justice.”