Five detainees held for battering a girl are released from jail [Archives:2008/1174/Local News]

By: Saddam Al-Ashmori
For the Yemen Times
SANA'A, July 18 ) Public prosecutors released five men held on suspicion of battering a little girl in Al-Madhla region of Amran governate this past June 14.

Sowsan Al-Madhlai, who is around 12 years old, plus her younger sister and her grandmother, were attacked in their home by approximately 11 men bearing sharp tools. The men beat them with the tools, causing deep wounds to their heads, though all three survived the attack.

Nasser Ahmed Zaid, a 60-year-old influential sheikh in the region and his four sons were suspected of attacking Sowsan and her family, after she accused the man of rape back in 2006. Zaid spent a few months in prison while a primary court investigated the claim, but was released in 2007 because there was not enough evidence against him. After this, Sowsan took her case to the Court of Appeals to get the primary court's judgment reversed, but the case hasn't been heard yet.

“We didn't expect the release of our rivals because we presented all the evidence