Sana’a: Yemen judiciary authorities have put on trial a man who last month brutally tortured and killed his 10-year-old girl for allegedly committing adultery in the north province of Dhamar.
Official media outlets said on the weekend that the West Dhamar Court began last week the trial of Noah Ali Saleh Al Yemeni, 33, accused of ruthlessly torturing and killing his daughter Maab.
The girl’s case hit the headlines last month when local residents reported they found a body of a heavily beaten girl thrown under a mountain. Police said the girl was murdered and thrown from the top of the mountain by her father who accused her of engaging in sexual acts with men.
Colonel Mohammad Qassem Al Hadi, director of Dhamar’s criminal investigation department who questioned the father, told Gulf News last month that the father refused to admit he was wrong, despite being shown medical reports proving his daughter was a virgin.
Al Hadi said that the father subjected the child to brutal treatment including burning her with an iron rod before killing her according to a video found in his mobile. Angered by the girl’s case, dozens of women and men went on a sit-in, in Dhamar demanding the father be executed.
The girl’s mother urged president Abd Rabbo Mansour Hadi and the governor of Dhamar to bring back her other two daughters who are in the custody of her ex-husband.
“He is a killer. I demand he be severely tortured before executing him,” she said.
During last week’s hearing, prosecutors demanded death sentence for the father, but activists and lawyers are sceptical the court will follow through because according to Penal law, the prison term is three years for persons found guilty of murdering their children. Interestingly enough, the punishment for torture is up to 10 years in prison, under the Penal law.
