When Khalid Adem was convicted of using scissors to circumcise his then 2-year-old daughter in 2001, Georgia had no laws that provided specific punishments for genital mutilation.
That's why Adem was charged with aggravated battery and cruelty to children.
After her ex-husband's arrest, Fortunate Adem worked with Rep. Mary Margaret Oliver (D-Decatur) to get a law passed outlawing female circumcision. The new law was enacted in May 2005.
Adem, 41, has been deported to his native Ethiopia, federal officials said Tuesday. He was convicted in 2006 and sentenced to 10 years in prison and five years of probation.
If Adem had been arrested after the new law was in place, he could have faced an additional 20 years for the genital mutilation charge.
The case brought attention to the issue in other ways.
After Adem was arrested, activists and educators flocked to metro Atlanta to denounce genital mutilation. A four-day conference on the practice sponsored by international women's rights group Equality Now was held in Atlanta in 2003, three months after the arrest. The conference originally was supposed to be held in Nairobi, Kenya, but was moved to Atlanta because of the national interest after Adem's arrest.
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