She was five years old.
Saudi Arabian media sources have reported that an Islamic cleric who raped, tortured and killed his 5-year-old daughter, has been let off with a small fine, avoiding a jail sentence.
Lama al-Ghamdi was the daughter of Fayhan al-Ghamdi, an Islamic preacher who makes regular appearances on television. Under Saudi law, al-Ghamdi has had to pay only £31,500 in ‘blood money’, even after confessing to the heinous crime.
This is what apparently happened to the little girl.
Gulf News reports that 5-year-old Lama was admitted to hospital on December 25, 2011 with multiple injuries, including a crushed skull, broken ribs and left arm, extensive bruising and burns. She died last October 22.
I can’t help but wonder why/how someone could do this.
Activists from women’s rights groups said that the father had doubted Lama’s virginity and had her checked up by a medic. A social worker from the hospital where Lama was admitted said the girl’s back was broken and that she had been raped “everywhere”.
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.”
And his punishment?
Ghamdi has apparently paid 200,000 riyals ($50,000; £31,500) in “blood money” – a sum that can be paid to relatives of a murder victim and which, if accepted, can replace a death sentence.
It’s not often I feel physically sick while researching articles, but this one did me in. Seriously it did. By the time I finished reading, tears streamed down my face. I thought of my four year old niece, comparing her care-free, happy life with the nightmarish existence of little Lama’s. What does someone think when their parent does that to them? How did she cope? How long did that kind of abuse go on? The questions are endless.
Human rights activists have indicated that judicial leniency towards male abusers reflects the highly problematic nature of the male guardianship system in Saudi Arabia.
“Highly problematic.” Understatement of the day.
