Popular Muslim Cleric Rapés & Beats His 5yrs Daughter to Death...

Wonders, they say, shall never end. A conservative Muslim preacher in Saudi Arabia has been sentenced to eight years in prison and 800 lashes for raping his five-year-old daughter.

The preacher, pictured above, is known as Fayhan al-Ghamdi. He usually preached on television as a good man. But he lost he sense of decency and violated his daughter of just 5years. Not only did this Muslim cleric raped his young daughter, he also beat her mercilessly, leading to her death.

Fayhan was convicted of beating his daughter Lama with canes, burning her with electrical cables, crushing her skull and tearing off her nails. She was also raped repeatedly and died later in a Saudi hospital.

Saudi Arabia is know to follow a strict interpretation of Islam under which murder, drug trafficking, rape and armed robbery are capital crimes, with execution mostly by firing squad. But in the case of Muslim preacher Fayhan, he was sentenced to just 8years in prison.

The case of Lama caused a public outcry and brought to light sensitive issues surrounding the ambiguity of punishment for Saudi fathers found guilty of murdering their own children.

Saudi officials say the popular Muslim preacher was not given a harsher sentence because the girl's mother accepted 1 million riyals, roughly $267,000, from him (her ex-husband) as "blood money," which is allowed in litigation under Saudi law.

The Egyptian mother, who acquired Saudi nationality through her ex-husband, said she is a poor woman with no income. By accepting the money, she waived the right to demand retribution against Fayhan for the death of their daughter.

Some are however alleging that the woman was pressured to accept the money.