Mother to be given SR 1 million in blood money after she dropped death penalty call
- By Habib Toumi, Bureau Chief
- Published: 08:42 October 8, 2013
- Image Credit: Al Sharq
- The murdered five year old Luma.
Manama: A court in Saudi Arabia has sentenced a father who had tortured
his five-year-old daughter to death to eight years in prison and 800
lashes.
The court in Hawtat Bani Tamim, 160 kilometers south of the capital
Riyadh also ruled that Fayhan Al Gamdi, a self-proclaimed preacher, pay
Luma’s mother, his ex-wife, SR 1 million in blood money.
Under Saudi laws, the mother had the right to ask for blood money instead of the death penalty for the defendant.
Al Ghamdi’s second wife was sentenced to 10 months in prison and 150
lashes for not reporting the torture inflicted on Luma, Saudi daily Al
Sharq reported on Tuesday, quoting a Human Rights Commission activist.
The lawyers of Luma’s father and stepmother have appealed the verdict.
Luma’s case shocked Saudi Arabia to the core last year when details
emerged how her father tortured as she visited him and his new wife.
Reports said that the father used wires and an iron rod to punish his
daughter and that he had expressed doubts about her virginity.
She died after four months in coma and was not buried for another four
months pending the investigation and the autopsy procedures.
Luma’s divorced mother said that her daughter lived with her under a
court order and was allowed to visit her father even though he
reportedly did not seem to care about her.
She added that she had agreed to marry her ex-husband as he appeared to
be a gentle and reformed man after spending years of his life as a drug
addict. However, following the marriage, he turned into a violent man
who often beat her, forcing her to file for divorce.
A court in the Eastern Province city of Dammam ruled in her favour and
she was told by the judge that she could have the custody of the
daughter until the girl reached the age of seven.
The mother said that, following the divorce, her former husband had met their daughter only on four occasions.
“The last visit was when I took her to see him in Riyadh where he had
moved after he lapsed into a long silence even though Luma was keen on
seeing him,” she said. “The agreement was that she spends only two weeks
with him, but after 14 days he refused to let her come back home to me.
The last words I heard from her were ‘I love you, mum and I always pray
for you.’ Her father often said that he would make her forget all about
me,” the mother told Saudi media.
In December 2011, Luma’s mother was informed by the police in Riyadh
that her daughter was in hospital where she was being treated for severe
burns and bruises, and that her condition was critical.
“It was such a terrible shock to see her frail body in this tragic
state. She remained paralysed for several months before she passed
away,” she said.
The mother initially insisted on the death penalty for her former
husband and his wife for torturing her daughter, but she later changed
her mind, saying that she would rather take blood money to help her with
the increasingly frustrating financial challenges.
“I have three other children [from a previous marriage] and a house to
look after and I will need the money,” she said in June. “There is no
interest for the family in the execution of my former husband.”
Amid the public furore about the case and claims that Al Ghamdi would
not be given the punishment he deserved because of his religious status,
the Islamic Affairs Ministry in November said he was not on its
official list of Islamic preachers.
“He is not registered with the ministry and we have no relationship
with him in any way,” Shaikh Saleh Bin Abdul Aziz Al Shaikh, the
minister, said. “He had committed a heinous crime and he cannot be a
preacher. No-one can ever justify his crime.”
http://gulfnews.com/news/gulf/saudi-arabia/saudi-arabia-preacher-fayhan-al-gamdi-gets-8-years-800-lashes-for-torturing-daughter-to-death-1.1240527
http://gulfnews.com/news/gulf/saudi-arabia/saudi-arabia-preacher-fayhan-al-gamdi-gets-8-years-800-lashes-for-torturing-daughter-to-death-1.1240527
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