In 1995, when Layli Miller-Muro (formerly Miller Bashir) was still a law student, she became an integral part of the legal team to free Fauziya Kassindja who had fled Togo to escape female genital mutilation (FGM) also called female circumcision. For those still unfamiliar with this practice it occurs mainly in African countries and involves anything from cutting off the clitoris to full excision of the female genitalia. It is perpetuated by females in the culture where it exists, who continue this practice of mutilating their young daughters in order to make them “clean” for purposes of marriage.

Fauziya came to the United States looking for asylum. After her father died, she had been sold into marriage to a man 30 years her senior with 3 other wives, and according to Islamic custom, her uncle became her guardian. Both of Fauziya’s parents did not believe in the practice of FGM, and therefore her older sisters were spared this ordeal, but Fauziya was only 16 when her father had died and was unmarried. She became the ward of her uncle, and it was up to him to determine her future. With the help of her sister and mother, Fauziya fled her home in Togo and eventually landed in the United States seeking asylum. Instead of welcoming Fauziya with open arms, she was imprisoned. There was no legal precedent for her situation and request for protection.

Layli Miller-Muro worked with her legal team to have Fauziya freed from prison and granted political asylum. The two became good friends, and later wrote a book together entitled, “Do They Hear When You Cry” which chronicled Fauziya’s personal ordeal and their combined legal battle to save her. Layli was dismayed, and yet also inspired by what she learned about the U.S. legal system and its treatment of immigrant women who come to the United States seeking protection from basic human rights abuses. With funds that she earned from the book she and Fauziya had written, she opened the Tahirih Justice Center.

Last October (2007) the Tahirih Justice Center celebrated 10 years of fighting for the human rights of women. Some of the cases that they have won included:

• The right of an Afghani woman to leave freely in the U.S., after escaping beatings and death threats when she refused to marry a 60-year-old man who was her father’s political ally.

• A woman from the Ghana who came to the U.S. to be a housekeeper and was kept as their slave for 17 months and beaten repeatedly.

• A young internet bride from Uzbekistan who came to the U.S. and married a man 20 years her senior, who soon demonstrated how abusive he was, physically, mentally, financially and sexually.

In all these cases, they were able to help these women escape these dangerous situations and start over.

The Tahirih Justice Center is named after an important Baha’i heroine, mystic, poetess and martyr.

To learn more about Tahirih please refer to the article written by my predecessor, it is in the Historical Persons folder of the Baha’i section of BellaOnline. You can also go to www.kalimat.com, they have several books published on Tahirih, and Desert Rose Publishing has a beautifully illustrated book called “Tahirih: A Poetic Vision.”

For more information about the Tahirih Justice Center and their work, see www.tahirih.org.