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A German court has ruled that circumcising young boys is a crime, sparking anger among Jews.
THE regional court in Cologne, western Germany, ruled that the practice of circumcising children before they could decide for themselves amounted to grievous bodily harm. The ruling was expected to set a legal precedent.
"The religious freedom of the parents and their right to educate their child would not be unacceptably compromised, if they were obliged to wait until the child could himself decide to be circumcised," the court said.
Thousands of young boys are circumcised every year in Germany, especially in the country's large Jewish and Muslim communities.
Jewish boys are circumcised within days of birth.
The Jewish community on Wednesday said the ruling trampled on parents' religious rights.

The ruling was sparked by a grievous bodily harm case against a doctor who had circumcised a four-year-old Muslim boy on his parents' wishes.
The regional court acquitted the doctor on the grounds that the law was confusing.
It, however, came down firmly against parents' right to have the ritual performed on young children.
"The body of the child is irreparably and permanently changed by a circumcision," the court said.
The head of the Central Committee of Jews, Dieter Graumann, said the ruling was "an unprecedented and dramatic intervention in the right of religious communities to self-determination".
The judgment was an "outrageous and insensitive act. Circumcision of newborn boys is a fixed part of the Jewish religion and has been practised worldwide for centuries," added Graumann.
The World Health Organisation has estimated that nearly one in three males 15 or over is circumcised.
The court specified that circumcision was not illegal if carried out for medical reasons.

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