Preacher gets 8 years for killing daughter

A Saudi court sentenced a local mosque preacher to eight years in prison and ordered him lashed 800 times after he was convicted of torturing his five-year-old daughter to death, newspapers in the Gulf Kingdom reported on Wednesday.

The court in Hawta bani Tamim, a small town south of the capital Riyadh, also sentenced his second wife to 10 months in jail and ordered her lashed 150 times for failing to report her husband’s crime.

The unnamed preacher had first denied responsibility of the death of Lama but doctors who examined her last year told police she had been severely tortured and beaten.

The case hit headlines in 2012 and triggered anger by thousands of social network users, some of whom called for the execution of the preacher.

His wife had also demanded his death, saying he murdered his own daughter when he goes on television to preach about good deeds. She later dropped the demand in return for SRone million diya (blood money).

Lama was admitted to hospital unconscious suffering from internal bleeding and severe burns, bruises and fractures all over her body and head. Her head was swollen due to beating by sharp objects while she had a fractured backbone.

Doctors spent nearly four months treating Lama and her condition started to improve before she suffered from a sudden rise in her temperature, a sharp fall in her blood pressure and pneumonia. “Lama’s body no longer responded to treatment and she died nearly four months after she was admitted to hospital,” Sabq daily said.

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