12-05-2025
Fake doctor performed £40 circumcisions after advertising in mosques
A fake doctor carried out circumcisions after advertising his budget services in mosques, a court has heard.
Mohammed Alazawi, 54, is believed to have performed dozens of 'unsafe and unsanitary' procedures between 2016 and 2022, including circumcising a two-week old baby on a coffee table.
He gave anaesthetic jabs to his victims, despite not having any qualifications.
Alazawi used a bogus document attributed to Istiklal Hospital in Jordan that stated he was trained in circumcision, Southwark Crown Court heard.
He explained to police after his arrest that he was a 'circumcision expert and a taxi driver'.
Detectives believe that there were many more victims of Alazawi who have not come forward.
Speaking after the verdicts, Judge Perrins said that the law around male circumcision should be changed because it 'remains almost entirely unregulated'.
Leaflet in mosque
During the trial, jurors heard evidence from a father whose baby was circumcised by Alazawi in February 2017.
He said that he had contacted the defendant after he saw a leaflet in Woolwich Mosque, south-east London and invited him to carry out the procedure at his home.
When he arrived, Alazawi told the father – who believed he was a qualified medical professional – that he was ''going to clean the area and that it would be done Islamically.'
He then carried out the circumcision on a coffee table for a fee of £40, the court heard.
Asked by prosecutors if he would have allowed Alazawi to circumcise his child had he known he was not qualified, the father said: 'No. I was thinking he was qualified. The advert was left in the mosque, that gives me trust.'
Fraud and assault convictions
Alazawi was convicted of six counts of fraud and six counts of wounding with intent by a jury.
He was also found guilty of three counts of supplying a prescription only medicine, three counts of supplying a pharmacy medicine and one assault occasioning actual bodily harm.
Alazawi earlier admitted 15 counts of parental administration of a prescription only medicine, three counts of supplying a prescription only medicine and two counts of supplying a pharmacy medicine.
He will return for sentence on June 26.
Anja Hohmeyer from the Crown Prosecution Service said: 'Alazawi pretended to be a medical practitioner to unsuspecting families and carried out circumcisions in unsafe, unsanitary and harmful ways, demonstrating a blatant disregard for the safety of his young patients and the impact of his actions on his victims, their families, and communities.
'We hope that this conviction offers them some comfort in seeing Alazawi being brought to justice.'
