Outrage as cleric freed after killing daughter, 5

Online activists in Saudi Arabia are calling for harsher punishments for child abuse following reports that a prominent cleric received only a light sentence after confessing to beating to death his 5-year-old daughter.

The social media campaign gaining momentum is the latest attempt to use the internet to pressure the kingdom’s ultraconservative rulers.

Saudi media reports say Fayhan al-Ghamdi, a frequent guest on Islamic TV programmes, was arrested in November on charges of killing the girl. The reports said he questioned the 5-year-old’s virginity.

Saudi media say he was freed last week after serving a short prison term and agreeing to pay $50,000 (€36,654) in “blood money” to avoid a possible death sentence.

It is thought the money was offered to the girl’s mother or other relatives.

Lamia al-Ghamdi was admitted to hospital on Dec 25, 2011 with multiple injuries, including a crushed skull, broken ribs and left arm, extensive bruising and burns, the activists said. She died last Oct 22.

Her father confessed to having used cables and a cane to inflict the injuries, the activists from the group Women to Drive said in a statement.

They said the father had doubted Lama’s virginity and had her checked up by a medic.

Randa al-Kaleeb, a social worker from the hospital where Lamia was admitted, said the girl’s back was broken and that she had been raped “everywhere”, according to the group.

According to the victim’s mother, hospital staff told her that her “child’s rectum had been torn open and the abuser had attempted to burn it closed”.

The prosecution ruling is based on Islamic laws that a father cannot be executed for murdering his children, nor can husbands be executed for murdering their wives, activists said.