A man has been jailed for nine years after a court found he had been impersonating a doctor to carry out unsafe and illegal circumcisions on infants and older boys.
Mohammed Alazawi, 54, was convicted of 40 offences, including multiple counts of fraud, wounding with intent, administering and supplying prescription-only medicines, and assault occasioning actual bodily harm.
He was sentenced at Southwark Crown Court on Tuesday. He admitted 20 charges and was found guilty of a further 20 following a trial.
Between October 2016 and January 2022, Alazawi performed non-therapeutic male circumcisions, a procedure in the UK that is unregulated and does not legally require a qualified medical practitioner.
But the court heard that his methods were inherently unsafe and dangerous, transforming what should have been routine, sanitary procedures into unlawful assaults. In sentencing, the judge described his actions as a profound breach of trust and a serious threat to public safety.
Posing as a doctor, Alazawi secured parental consent for these operations. The court heard how he would present to parents a bogus document attributed to Istiklal Hospital in Jordan that stated he was trained in circumcision. He explained to police after his arrest that he was a “circumcision expert and a taxi driver”.
Among the operations he performed was the circumcision of a two-week-old baby on a coffee table.
Speaking after the verdicts in May, Judge Perrins said that the law around male circumcision should be changed because it “remains almost entirely unregulated”.
Anja Hohmeyer, from the Crown Prosecution Service, said Alazawi had carried out circumcisions in “unsafe, unsanitary and harmful ways”, which demonstrated “a blatant disregard for the safety of his young patients and the impact of his actions on his victims, their families, and communities”.
Detective Inspector Neil Hunt from West Midlands Police's public protection unit, who led the investigation into Alazawi spanning seven years, said: “Some of his young victims went on to have complications following the procedures, like infections, and it was after one such incident in Birmingham that we were alerted and began an investigation.
“These complex enquiries went on to find many victims from across the UK.
“It has been the bravery and support of these families, some from as far away as Canada, in supporting our investigation which has seen this perpetrator jailed today.”
