(Houston Chronicle) A Houston woman faces a rare federal charge after she was accused of transporting a girl outside of the United States for genital mutilation, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Texas announced Wednesday.
Zahra Badri, 39, was handed the first ever indictment for knowingly transporting a minor from the United States in foreign commerce for the purpose of female genital mutilation, according to the attorney’s office.
The crime occurred from July 10, 2016, through Oct. 14, 2016.
“The brutal practice of female genital mutilation not only subjects victims to the immediate trauma of the violent act, but also often condemns them to suffer a lifetime of physical and psychological harms,” said Acting Assistant Attorney General David P. Burns of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division.
