Opinion ID: 166405
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Ms. Niang's Account

Text: 3 The following summarizes the documents and testimony supporting Ms. Niang's claims for relief. She was born into the Tukulor Fulani tribe in Senegal in 1970. Her family is Muslim and believes in rigid adherence to certain gender roles and expectations. There was a strict separation between the men and women in her household, which included her parents, eight siblings, some cousins, and their spouses. Her family believed that women should not look at men, that family members should not display affection toward one another, and that women should obey their husbands. 4 According to tribal custom, when Ms. Niang was born she was promised in marriage to her cousin Daud, a man her father's age who had three other wives. Because she was considered married to Daud, she was not allowed to date other men. Although most Tukulor Fulani girls were subjected to FGM and consummated their marriages when they were 10 to 12 years old, Ms. Niang refused to do so and her family acquiesced in her wishes, believing she would eventually change her mind. Unlike most Tukulor Fulani women, Ms. Niang was permitted to attend school at age 12. 5 When Ms. Niang was nearly 25, her family had a meeting in which they decided that she must consummate her marriage with Daud that evening. She again refused, and her family threw themselves on her, stripping her of her clothes, beating her, and burning her with a hot iron. Some then performed FGM on her [s]o that [she] wouldn't be able to commit adultery and so that no one would want to have anything to do with [her]. And then she would be ashamed to show [her] body in front of another man. Testimony of Ms. Niang, R. at 188. She left her house the next morning. For the next four years she stayed at her friend Maria's house in another town while attending the university to obtain her Senegalese law license. She had no contact with her family during this time. 6 Ms. Niang came to the United States in 1999 and stayed with friends in Denver. Although she wanted to live in a country where [she] could feel free, and she still feared her family, id. at 194, she did not immediately seek asylum but entered as a nonimmigrant visitor, authorized to stay only until June 24, 2000. She met Elhadji Fall and married him on April 17, 2000. Because of her FGM, however, they could not have normal sexual relations and they separated. During her marriage Ms. Niang's Senegalese friend Maria wrote her a letter informing her that her family considered her an adulteress because of her marriage to Fall and would kill her if she returned. According to Ms. Niang, if she was returned to Senegal, her family was ready and waiting for [her], and it would be the end of [her] days. R. At 204-05.