The woman is accused of torturing the 11-year-old girl, burning her with oil and an iron, shaving her head and beating her with a stick.

However, this sentence was described as “lenient” by a number of rights associations, calling for a more sever sentence. They vowed to appeal the sentence, on behalf of the thousands of child workers abused in Morocco.

“The sentence does not reflect the scale of the atrocities committed, because the little girl was locked up in a cellar," Najia Adib, the president of ‘Don't Touch My Child', was quoted as saying.

Rights groups are also demanding the trial of the woman's husband, the judge, for complicity.

Zineb chetite was taken to hospital on August 20. According to medical sources, the little girl was burned with oil and an iron, even in her most intimate places. She was also beaten up with a stick and her hear was shaven.

This case, which has drawn widespread attention, highlights the plight of a large number of children who are forced into work mainly by their parents as a result of poverty and greed.

In Morocco, the law forbids the employment and exploitation of little children younger than 15, mainly as “little maids”, but in most cases, this law remains unimplemented.