[3][4][5] Adem, a Georgia gas-station clerk originally from Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, was arrested on March 28, 2003, and charged for aggravated battery and cruelty to children.
"[8] In Adem's native Ethiopia, while female genital mutilation (FGM) has been made illegal by the 2004 Penal Code,[9] and is formally discouraged by the Ethiopian government, the practice remains a very common procedure, with the World Health Organization estimating the prevalence of FGM in the country in 2005 at 74.3%[10] Adem denied he had excised his daughter's clitoris or asked anyone else to do it.
[7] The fact that the crime had occurred in 2001 and yet was not reported by Fortunate until 2003 was used to suggest the accusation was spurious and vindictive, as the wound would have caused the child great pain and would have required constant cleaning.
[7] Khalid claimed the reverse, that it was Fortunate who had revealed to him that their daughter had had her clitoris removed, and that she was falsely accusing him to obtain leverage for the custody battle.
[11] Lawyers for the defense raised the question of why Adem, an urban Ethiopian who grew to adulthood in the United States, would have felt compelled to perform the cutting, especially since none of his immediate family (i.e. his sisters) are circumcised.
"[14] Ben Koissaba, a leader of the Maasai of Kenya (who consider circumcision of males and females a part of their distinctive cultural heritage), was quoted by Reuters as saying, "If a woman is not cut, she remains a baby forever and cannot perform social rites with other women … [Adem] was doing it because he thought it would be a bad omen on his child if he did not.