Circumcision has killed small boys and must be made illegal

Under the headline, “Another child has died. Circumcision in the UK remains unregulated,” Antony Lempert describes the death of 6-month-old baby Mohamed Abdisamad. He died from sepsis in 2023 following a community circumcision procedure.

The assistant coroner highlighted the risks of future child deaths in his “Prevention of future deaths” report sent to the Department of Health and Social Care. Uniquely in surgical practice, when ritual, non-therapeutic circumcision is performed by lay practitioners, it is exempt from regulatory oversight.

It is therefore not possible to know who is operating, how many children are being operated on, where the operations are taking place and under what circumstances, or how many children suffer short or long-term harms of the operation. Action is only taken when something goes seriously wrong.

At least seven circumcision-related deaths have been recorded in the UK over the past few years.

In 2010, midwife Grace Adeleye used a pair of scissors to amputate the healthy foreskin from a baby, Goodluck Caubergs. The nurse and Goodluck’s parents were from Nigeria, where circumcision of newborns is the tradition for Christian families. The jury was told that Adeleye had done “more than 1,000” circumcisions. Tragically, Goodluck did not live up to his name. He bled to death.

In 2012, Angelo Ofori-Mintah was mortally wounded by rabbi Mordechai Cohen. This baby also bled to death.

The midwife was convicted of manslaughter and a judge ordered her to serve 21 months in jail, suspended for 24 months. She was also given a six-month overnight curfew and a 12-month supervision order.

In contrast, the rabbi was reassured by the deputy coroner that he was “entirely blameless” for what she described as “a tragic accident, an unforeseen consequence of the surgical procedure.”

Convictions in 2025 and ignored calls for regulation

In 2025, two men were given custodial sentences for causing serious harm to children related to community circumcision procedures including cruelty by means of lack of appropriate anaesthesia.

Mohammed Alazawi had pretended to unsuspecting parents that he was a trained doctor. He used a bogus document attributed to Istiklal Hospital in Jordan that stated he was trained in circumcision. He was convicted of 40 offences which included multiple counts of fraud, wounding with intent, administering and supplying prescription only medicines, and assault occasioning actual bodily harm. He was sentenced to nine years imprisonment.

Mohammad Siddiqui had previously worked as an NHS paediatric surgeon until his license to practice medicine was revoked in 2015 by the General Medical Council because he was found to have performed unsafe community circumcision operations. Absurdly, his removal from the medical register allowed him to continue performing community circumcisions as a lay person, without any oversight or regulation. He was jailed for five years and seven months after admitting he caused “painful cruelty to children” by running a mobile circumcision service, ignoring basic hygiene.

Both judges called for urgent regulation of the practice but nothing happened and the political statements were appalling.

The Government stated that “The Ministry of Justice has no responsibility for non-therapeutic male circumcision or its regulation.” In response to another parliamentary question about what action the Government might take, the Undersecretary of State for Patient Safety, Baroness Merron said that “The Government has no plans to make changes to the regulatory framework for unanaesthetised non-therapeutic circumcision of boys.” Baroness Merron served as chief executive of the Board of Deputies of British Jews between 2014 and 2021.

Human rights violations

The UK government’s passivity is a violation of basic human rights. In another article, I explained why ritual circumcision of boys must be banned. One reason is that, ethically, we cannot defend banning circumcision of girls while allowing circumcision of boys.

The United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child is a legally binding agreement setting out the rights of every child, regardless of their race, religion or abilities. It is clear from Article 24, paragraph 3, that you must not cause suffering to children: “States Parties shall take all effective and appropriate measures with a view to abolishing traditional practices prejudicial to the health of children.”

Tattooing is illegal in Denmark before the child is 18 years old. Therefore, circumcision should also be banned until children reach adulthood and can make their own decisions. Antony Lempert, a general practitioner whose article I quote, was born and raised within a Jewish family and community where circumcision is widely practiced, and he agrees with me that circumcision should only be undertaken on consenting adults.

The foreskin has an important function. It protects the glans penis, which, after circumcision, becomes exposed to air, friction from underwear, and drying. Over time, the mucosa undergoes keratinization, which turns the moist, highly sensitive mucosal surface into something more like dry external skin.

I find it very odd that religious communities believe that God created man in his image and that they then nonetheless routinely alter what they think a perfect God created. It looks blasphemous to me.

Whether performed on girls or on boys, genital mutilation is barbarism. We must stop it. Now.