A Saudi religious scholar who raped his five-year-old daughter and tortured her to death has been ordered to pay "blood money" to the mother following a short term in jail, members of female rights group, Women to Drive, said on Saturday.
A statement released by the group said the man's daughter, Lama, was admitted to hospital on 25 December 2011 having sustained multiple injuries including a crushed skull, a broken arm and ribs and extensive bruising and burns.
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".
Lama died in October 2012.
Despite the brutality of the crime, the activists say a judge has ruled: "Blood money and the time the defendant had served in prison since Lama's death suffices as punishment."
The group claim the ruling is based on national laws in Saudi that a father cannot be executed for murdering his children as husbands cannot be executed for murdering their wives.
In the trial the father, who is a regular guest on Islamic television networks, reportedly confessed to using cables and a cane to inflict Lama's injuries.
Three Saudi activists, including Manal al-Sharif, who in 2011 challenged Saudi laws that prevent women from driving, have raised objections to the ruling.
