Government officials allege the doctor's actions are a crime against humanity. The Immigration and Refugee Board disagrees

Canadian immigration authorities want to deport a female doctor who ran “virginity tests” on women in Afghanistan, arguing that her actions are a crime against humanity.

Global News reports that Saida Ahmadi worked at a hospital in northern Afghanistan before coming to Canada in 2017 and making a refugee claim.

Distroscale

In Afghanistan, virginity tests may be used as evidence in court when prosecuting females for having sex before marriage, a crime known as zina.

In interviews with Canadian immigration officials, Ahmadi said that “virginity exams were part of her duties, though they were not routine.”

According to the World Health Organization, virginity testing has no scientific or clinical basis.

A virginity test is a manual inspection of the female genitalia to indicate whether the hymen has “broken.”

Story continues below This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below.

Officials have accused Ahmadi of performing virginity tests at the “request of the state” and testifying on the results in court. The Canadian government said that aiding such prosecutions are a crime against humanity.

Ahmadi had said she believed that the tests were performed with consent from the women and that she would not have done the tests had she known they would be used in an Afghan court.

In August 2016, Ahmadi examined a woman named Soraya, who was accused of zina. Ahmadi said she signed a report stating her opinion that Soraya was not a virgin. Ahmadi testified in court, later saying that her testimony was limited to confirming her signature on the virginity test report. Soraya was sentenced to seven years imprisonment.

Ahmadi said she left Afghanistan after getting threatening calls from Soraya’s family. According to a Canadian immigration report, Ahmadi arrived to Canada from the U.S. in 2017.

I find that there was little evidence provided

The Immigration and Refugee Board ruled that although the tests were “part of the systematic oppression of women in Afghanistan,” they were not a crime against humanity. The IRB’s Immigration Appeal Division ruled that Ahmadi did not make a significant contribution to “the systems in Afghanistan which oppress women.”

“I find that there was little evidence provided to support that the respondent knowingly observed and performed virginity tests for the purpose of having women convicted of zina,” the IRB Appeal Division wrote.