Leading Saudi cleric jailed for torturing daughter to death

October 9, 2013: A Saudi Islamic preacher accused of torturing his five-year-old daughter to death has been sentenced to just eight years in jail and 600 lashes.

Lama al-Ghamdi died in October 2012 having suffered multiple injuries. Her skull was crushed, a finger nail had been pulled off, her ribs and arm broken and she suffered extensive bruising and burns. There were also reports that she’d been repeatedly raped, though this was denied by her mother.

The case sent shockwaves around the world earlier this year and there was further outrage when it appeared that her father, Fayhan al-Ghamdi, would be released by a Saudi court after just a few months in prison.

The mother, Syeda Mohammed Ali, told CNN in February: 'My dear child is dead, and all I want now is justice so I can close my eyes and know she didn't die in vain. She was brutally tortured in the most shocking ways.'

A campaign began to force the court, in the town of Hawta, to stiffen the sentence. The same court and judge july re-examined the case, but there is anger once more that the punishment for Al-Ghamdi, a prominent Islamist preacher who regularly appears on television in
Saudi Arabia, is too lenient.

(Source: UCAN)