Three women have been charged after the death of a one-month-old baby who underwent female genital mutilation, sparking outrage in the country where the practice has been banned since 2015, police announced in a statement Wednesday.

The little girl was pronounced dead on arrival at a hospital in the capital Banjul after "undergoing a suspected circumcision" and suffering from significant bleeding, Gambian police announced on Sunday.

The incident took place in the western town of Wellingara and the exact date of the baby's death has not been released by the authorities.

Female genital mutilation has been illegal since 2015 but is still widely practiced in this small West African country.

One of the three women charged with prohibited female genital mutilation was "placed in pre-trial detention" by the Brikama court (west) with a possible "life sentence," Gambian police said.

Two other women accused of "complicity in female genital mutilation (FGM)" have been released on bail, according to police.

The death has angered women's rights activists who are fighting against the deeply rooted cultural and religious practice, which they see as a dangerous violation of the rights of women and girls.

Gambia has one of the highest rates of FGM in the world: 73% of women and girls aged 15 to 49 have undergone it, according to UNICEF figures from 2024.

Researchers at the University of Birmingham in the UK estimated in a study published in 2023 that around 44,320 girls and young women die each year as a result of FGM in countries where it is practiced.

FGM includes the partial or total removal of the clitoris (excision), or more broadly of the external genitalia, or any other injury to the genitals.

Besides pain and trauma, they can have other serious consequences: infections, hemorrhage and, later, sterility and complications during or after childbirth.

Former Gambian dictator Yahya Jammeh (1994-2017), now in exile, banned FGM in 2015, arguing that it was outdated and not a requirement of Islam, the religion of the vast majority of the population.