A baby died in Genoa on Tuesday
after being circumcised at home, sources said on Wednesday.
The child's Nigerian mother and grandmother have been taken
to the police headquarters in the northern city for questioning,
the sources said.
The father is said to be outside the country.
The mother, 25, is said to have called the emergency services
but the child was dead when they arrived.
Investigators suspect that a third person carried out the
circumcision and they are checking the phone records of the
mother and grandmother to try to track that person down.
It is the third such case in recent months in Italy.
Last month a five-month-old baby died in Bologna's
Sant'Orsola hospital following a botched circumcision, allegedly
by his parents of Ghanaian origin.
Another small child died in December due to an illegal
circumcision performed at Monterotondo, near Rome.
Yassine Lafram, the head of Bologna's Islamic community, has
condemned the practice of subjecting children to illegal
circumcisions.
"We learn of the terrible news of the death of a five-month
baby following an illegal circumcision with dismay," said
Lafram after the second of the case.
"It's a death that could certainly have been avoided and
pains us deeply.
"We firmly condemn these irresponsible gestures and we hope
that they never happen again".
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