An Ethiopian man, Khalid Adem, 41, who became the first United States convict of female genital mutilation on 2 November 2006, was deported on Monday to Ethiopia after serving 10 years in jail.

Prosecutors in Gwinnett County, Georgia said he was convicted of aggravated battery and cruelty to children after he used a pair of scissors to cut the clitoris of his then 2-year-old daughter in 2001 at his family’s residence in Atlanta. Sean W. Gallagher, a field office director for Immigration and Customs Enforcement on Tuesday said, “A young girl’s life has been forever scarred by this horrible crime.”

Female Genital Mutilation (FGM) is a violation of rights of girls and women; it is practiced in different countries in Africa, Asia, Middle East and among migrant populations in developed countries. The World Health Organisation estimates that more than 200 million girls and women alive today have been cut in 30 countries in Africa, Asia, Middle East where the practice is concentrated. FGM is outlawed in the United States but some states including Georgia did not have laws particularly on female genital cutting when Adem committed this crime.