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25th Mar 2019

A baby boy has died in Italy following a home circumcision

Carl Kinsella

A baby has died following an illegal circumcision in Italy, according to media reports.

The BBC has reported that a young child in the Italian province of Reggio Emilia died in hospital, after he went into cardiac arrest following a circumcision performed in his home.

The baby was five months old.

An investigation has been opened by the authorities into the parents, who are suspected of having carried out the circumcision.

It is the second such case in Italy in the last few months, with another infant having died in Rome last December in similar circumstances.

Male circumcision is not illegal in Ireland, and is performed by some doctors. Movements to ban the procedure in countries like Iceland and Germany have attracted criticism due to the procedure’s long-standing part of the Jewish and Muslim faiths.