Berlin has authorised doctors, but not mohelim, to perform circumcisions. The announcement comes in the wake of a Cologne state court decision in May that non-medical circumcisions amounted to a criminal offence.

Thomas Heilmann, Senator for Justice in the federal state of Berlin, said that the freedom to perform religious circumcisions would be upheld in the state, but subject to certain provisos.

One of these is that the procedure must only be carried out by doctors according to a “medically professional standard”. This means that until the German parliament passes legislation on the issue, mohelim will not be able to peform the brit ritual in Berlin.