The court has given the woman 30 days to appeal against the verdict before its endorsement by the court of appeal. The four-year jail sentence came in conformity with the four-day disappearance of the child.

Some people believed that the jail sentence was issued considering the woman’s mental and social condition.

Arab News reported the incident, which took place at the Madinah Maternity and Child Hospital due to security lapse, at the end of the last year. The woman kidnapped the boy within a few hours after his birth.

Four days later, the authorities found the kidnapped boy, Anas, in the city’s Baeejan Park.

Police arrested the woman, her brothers and husband.

Informed sources told Arab News that the son’s father received a SMS message saying the child is in the Baeejan Park. A relative of the child then went to the park and found the child there.

Madinah Gov. Prince Abdul Aziz bin Majed was closely following the incident since its beginning and had instructed security officers to find the child and track down the kidnapper quickly.

At that time, many people were talking about lax security at government hospitals and urged authorities to tighten security to prevent such incidents in the future.

The Health Ministry started putting special identification straps containing names and parents on the wrists of newborn babies.

Following the incident, Muhammad Al-Oufi, chairman of the Madinah branch of the National Society for Human Rights (NSHR), said the hospital’s corridors and exits were not monitored by surveillance cameras.

He also pointed out that hospital had no practice of recording the details of visitors.