A Saudi court in the town
of Hawta found Fayhan al-Ghamdi guilty on Monday, Mohammed Almadi of
Saudi Arabia's Human Rights Commission told CNN.
"The girl's mother ceded
her original request to sentence the father to death," explained Almadi,
citing a lawyer for his group who was in the courtroom. "She has since
asked for the father to pay her blood money instead, which is her right
in the Saudi legal system."
Growing anger over girl's horrific death
CNN was unable to reach Saudi Arabia's Justice Ministry for comment.
Al-Ghamdi's daughter,
Lama, was admitted to King Saud Hospital in Riyadh in March 2012 after
suffering extensive injuries, including broken ribs, a crushed skull,
bruising and burns. Family, activists and officials say she died of her
wounds in late October last year.
The case caused international outrage once it made headlines 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," the mother, Syeda Mohammed Ali, told CNN in February.
"She was brutally tortured in the most shocking ways."
Ali, who is divorced from
al-Ghamdi, said Lama's torture occurred while she was staying with her
father. She added that al-Ghamdi is now remarried with two more
children.
Activists say al-Ghamdi
is an Islamist evangelist popular in Saudi Arabia for his televised
appearances and for speaking on air about the rewards of repenting to
God. But they also say he only fancies himself a cleric and is not
recognized by the clerical establishment.
In a conservative country where the death penalty is common, Saudi social media users were quick to express disgust at the news.
"What kind of verdict is this?" tweeted one.
"This is not justice," tweeted another.
Some pointed out what
they called a travesty -- that killing Lama garnered al-Ghamdi a
punishment similar to that received by a Saudi activist, Raif Badawi,
who was recently sentenced to seven years in jail and 600 lashes. Badawi
was convicted of violating the nation's anti-cybercrime law by running
an unauthorized Web forum.
Other Saudi Twitter
users expressed anger by comparing al-Ghamdi's verdict to another recent
Saudi case -- one in which it was reported that four Saudi men accused
of dancing naked on the roof of a car and posting a video of the
incident online were sentenced to as many as 2,000 lashes and up to 10
years in prison, as well as being fined thousands of dollars.
"Somebody who kills his
daughter gets eight years in prison but somebody who pulls down their
underwear gets 10 years in jail!" wrote one.
Attempts to reach al-Ghamdi and his lawyer via activists and government officials have been unsuccessful.
Several activists and
numerous local media had reported that Lama was also raped, but her
mother denied that happened. Ali said that Lama's father was concerned
about the virginity of his 5-year-old daughter.
"The father confessed to
the abuse, the beating and torturing Lama in the most obnoxious
manners," she said last February. One thing she said he did was to burn
Lama's rectum.
"These are not some
unfounded accusations, but everything is based on the medical
examination by the hospital and the team of physicians who treated Lama
when she was first admitted," she said.
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