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A couple who raised their baby on a vegan diet have been jailed for three months after the girl nearly starved to death.

The child had a diet of breast milk, brown rice and potatoes, a court heard.

And the 18-month-old was rushed to hospital in February in a critical condition and unresponsive. Doctors said she was just hours from death.

A judge at Gothenburg District Court in Sweden told the parents on Thursday that her diet s had been negligent and threatened her life.

Medics provided evidence her condition was due to 'prolonged starvation' and one said it was 'worse than anything we have seen at the hospital before,' The Local reported.

(Image: Google Images)

She had never been registered with the authorities and after recovering with three weeks at Queen Silvia's children's hospital she was taken into foster care.

Her foster mother told the court the baby had recovered well.

A statement from the court, obtained by The Local said: "According to their ideological belief that the daughter was a citizen of the world, her parents did not even report the birth to any authority, have her checked at a paediatric centre, or even weigh or measure her growth.

"Nor has the girl been vaccinated or examined by a doctor."

(Image: Google Images)

Judge Per Norden said that though their daughter had not been intentionally harmed, he found some of the parents' views 'remarkable' - particularly those of the mother who believed people could survive without food and water with the correct conditioning.

Prosecutor Ximena Bene had pressed for two or three years imprisonment for the parents, whereas their defence lawyers argued the child's condition had been due to a stomach bug.

The parents, who also follow vegan diets, call themselves 'nomads' and tend to live with friends, Ekuriren reported.

Her parents were sentenced for gross negligence causing bodily harm.

They have been detained for two months and effectively served their sentences on remand already, but were also ordered to pay 60,000 kronor (£5,000) in damages to their daughter.

The parents will be permitted to spend eight weeks with their baby under supervision at a care facility monitored by social services.

The father was further sentenced for several minor crimes including drugs offences and drink driving.