An American court sentenced an undertaker and her mother to prison terms, after they were convicted of cutting and stealing the organs of the deceased without the knowledge of their relatives.
The judge hearing the case in the US State of Colorado issued a 20-year prison sentence for the undertaker, Megan Hess, after she pleaded guilty, reports a local Arabic daily.
The judge also issued a 15-year prison sentence against her mother, Shirley Koch, who used to dismember the organs of the dead.
This involved more than 500 cases of dead people whose organs were cut off and stolen years ago.
The court said that this 46-year-old woman has been carrying out these acts with her mother, 69, for more than 10 years, noting that the sentences issued against them are the maximum permitted by law in this regard.
It is not technically a crime of violence, said Tim Neff, an assistant US attorney who is following the case, but it is a heinous crime and a despicable act.