It's happened again in Egypt. A thirteen-year-old girl died after being circumcised at a private clinic in Dakahliya. The Egypt Independent reports:

The victim's father, Mohamed Ibrahim, a farmer, told Al-Masry Al-Youm: "We left our daughter with the doctor and the nurse. Fifteen minutes later, the nurse took my daughter out of the operation room to a nearby room, along with three other girls whom the doctor was circumcising."

Ibrahim added: "I waited half an hour, hoping that my daughter would wake up, but, unfortunately, unlike the rest of the girls, she did not.

"The doctor brought her back to the operation room, and then we were surprised when an ambulance transferred her out of the clinic. When we asked the doctor what was going on, he told us that she was weak and that the clinic did not have the necessary [medical] equipment to treat her. When we reached Aga Hospital, they told us that the girl was dead."

Tragedies of this kind stretch back years and are usually followed by some kind of government ban which has little or no effect.

1996:

In the wake of the death of an 11-year-old girl the Egyptian government has banned any government-affiliated medical staff from performing female circumcision ...

In October 1995 the health minister banned female circumcision from being carried out in state hospitals, a direct reversal of a 1994 decree that asked state hospitals to set aside one day a week for performing the procedure. 

The further restriction follows an incident in July 1996 when an 11-year-old girl bled to death in the rural area of Mansoora after being circumcised by a barber.

Source: BMJ

2007:

Egypt has banned all female circumcision after the death this week of a 12-year-old girl undergoing the widely practised procedure.

Budour Ahmad Shaker died from an overdose of anaesthetic at a private clinic in Minya province in upper Egypt during the $9 (£4.50) operation. Her parents are threatening to sue the doctor involved after he reportedly tried to bribe them to withdraw their complaint.

Source: The Guardian

2010:

An Egyptian doctor has been arrested after she performed a botched circumcision that killed a young girl, a newspaper reported on Friday.

The independent daily Shorouk reported that police were alerted to the death of the girl, whose body was illegally buried to hide the crime, after a call to a help line the government set up to monitor female circumcision. 

The doctor, from the Nile Delta governate of Menufiya, has been referred to a criminal court, the paper reported. 

Source: Medindia

A study in 2008 found that the prevalence of female circumcision – also known as female genital mutilation (FGM) and female genital cutting (FGC) – was 91% among married Egyptian women.

Another study listed reasons given for the practice. These included maintaining traditions, reduction of sexual desire, hygiene and cleanliness, and religious approval. 

Cutting is widely practised in some Muslim countries but not in others; it predates Islam and is also practised by non-Muslims, especially in Africa. It is not mentioned in the Quran but is referred to in the hadith. 

Some religious scholars say it is obligatory, some say it is forbidden, while others shift the decision away from religion by suggesting it may be carried out for medical reasons (of which there are none). There are disputes too, among those who approve of it, about the amount of cutting that may be permitted or required.
  

Posted by Brian Whitaker
Monday, 10 June 2013