Infant male circumcision was declared legal Wednesday in one of Germany’s 16 states, following weeks of controversy about whether the Jewish and Muslim ritual is a crime or not.
The city-state of Berlin became the first to rule on the issue, saying its prosecutors had been instructed not to charge doctors if the boy’s parents had consented in writing and proved they were religiously motivated.
The legal row erupted after a ruling in June by a court in Cologne, which found that a doctor had inflicted unlawful bodily harm by circumcising a 4-year-old boy at his parents’ request.
Although the Cologne ruling was only binding in a small region, doctors across the country halted the operation for fear of prosecution. The federal government then said it would introduce a law to ensure circumcision remains legal.
Read More: @ haaretz.com
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