A mother has been jailed for life after beating her son to death for failing to learn the Koran by heart and then burning his body to hide the evidence.
Sara Ege, 33, collapsed as the sentence was delivered at Cardiff Crown Court and had to be helped, trembling and sobbing, from the dock.
Ege had been praised as a "brilliant mother" to seven-year-old Yaseen but was convicted of his murder by a jury at the same court last month.
The court heard she treated Yaseen like a "dog" and repeatedly beat him with a stick for failing to memorise religious texts quickly enough.
The schoolboy had suffered multiple injuries to his body and died in July 2010 from internal injuries caused by three months of punishing beatings.
Ege set fire to the family house to hide her actions and played the part of a parent mourning the tragic death of her son until it was discovered in a post-mortem that Yaseen had been dead before the blaze started.
Mr Justice Wyn Williams ordered her to serve a minimum of 17 years behind bars and said: "The violence that you perpetrated on your son was not confined to one day.
"I am satisfied that, over three months, you beat him on a number of occasions, often with a wooden pestle.
"His injuries must have caused him a good deal of pain. In my judgment Yaseen was subjected to prolonged cruelty."
The judge accepted the defence's argument that India-born Ege was "a devoted and loving mother" who suffered from depression and domestic violence.
Ege accused her husband Yousef Ege, 38, who stood trial with his wife, of being a violent bully who beat her and was their son's real killer.
But he was cleared of causing or allowing his son's death at home in Pontcanna, Cardiff, South Wales, by failing to act to prevent it.
Ege was found guilty both of murder and of a charge of perverting the course of justice.
Following her conviction DC Kim Roche from South Wales Police said: "Throughout this investigation we have heard many tributes to Yaseen.
"Quiet, hard-working, bright, well-behaved, obedient, respectful, polite, smiley - are just some of the words used to describe Yaseen by those who knew him.
"It is a tragedy that such a promising young life was taken away in such disturbing circumstances and that those who knew him will not have the opportunity to see him grow up to become a young man."
Topic: More Muslim Mothers murdering sons (Read 672 times)