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Her plight--Abankwah was jailed as an "illegal immigrant" after her March 1997 fleeing to the U.S. from her native Ghana, where tribal elders threatened her with genital mutilation for losing her virginity--became a personal mission for Marie Claire editor-in-chief (since 1996) Glenda Bailey after MC first reported the story in May 1998. Bailey would often accompany Abankwah to court hearings, and was there August 18, when the Immigration and Naturalization Service hierarchy agreed with a three-judge U.S. Court of Appeals (New York) recommendation that Abankwah be granted permanent asylum. "Now, we can do the 'joyous followup,'" says Bailey, who has scheduled it for November--after a "cautious one" (before the final INS decision) ran in the just-released October issue.