International News - Ghanaian woman wins asylum in New YorkJuly 23rd 1999 New York: A Ghanaian woman who claimed she fled from her home in Africa two years ago to escape being genitally mutilated has been awarded political asylum in the USA. Adelaide Abankwah, 29, was chosen as the queen mother of her tribe, but she turned down the position and refused to perform rituals intended to find out whether she was a virgin or enter into an arranged marriage. She escaped after she was threatened with Female Genital Mutilation (FGM) as a punishment. (source: BBC, July 1999) |