A British judge has sentenced a ``devoted and loving mother'' to at least 17 years in prison for beating her son to death after he failed to memorize passages from the Qur'an.
   
Sara Ege was convicted last month of murdering 7-year-old Yaseen and burning his body to destroy the evidence.
   
Judge Wyn Willians said Ege beat Yaseen repeatedly over several months.
   
He said that on the day he died Yaseen had been kept home from school to memorize verses from the Muslim holy book, and that his failure ``was the trigger for the beating'' that killed him.
   
The judge accepted the defence's argument that India-born Ege was ``a devoted and loving mother'' who suffered from depression and domestic violence.
   
Still, he said today, she subjected her son to ``prolonged cruelty.''