The Dutch public prosecution office has demanded a five-year prison sentence for a man who carried out female circumcision on his own daughter.

According to the PPO, thirty-one-year-old Mustapha El M. seriously mutilated his five-year-old daughter in October 2008. He allegedly used a scissors to cut away her genitals.

Last year, a court in Haarlem acquitted the man. It is clear that the little girl has undergone female circumcision as her labia and part of her clitoris are missing. However, the court ruled that it could not be proven beyond doubt that her father was responsible. The PPO appealed against the verdict.

The man was arrested after the girl told her foster mother that her father had cut her genitals with "a big scissors". The man with a Moroccan background has consistently denied performing a circumcision on his daughter.

The court did sentence the man to three months in prison for physical abuse. He repeatedly bit the girl's cheek and beat her. The father has appealed against this sentence.

The court will deliver its verdict on 23 December.

© Radio Netherlands Worldwide