An African woman has gone on trial in Paris accused of the genital mutilation of around fifty young girls.

Twenty-seven of the girls' parents are also on trial in the largest case of its kind.

The defendant, Hawa Greou, who is of Malian origin, faces up to twenty years in prison if she is convicted.

Her lawyer said genital mutilation was a deep-rooted African custom which the French justice system was not well-equipped to fight.

Genital mutilation, which is also known as female circumcision, was made illegal in France in 1984 and is also illegal in many African countries.