Antwerp: Islam school teachers accused of child abuse

Two Islam teachers and one supervisor at a Koran school in Borgerhout will show up in the Antwerp court tomorrow on charges of child abuse. They had given a number of their students corporal punishment.

The accused taught in the Koran school associated with the Bilal Mosque in Borgerhout (Antwerp). The investigation started in June 2006 after a complaint from the Sint-Norbertus Institute, where several of the involved kids learn. They had complained to their teachers about the corporal punishments that they got in Koran school whenever they didn't know their lessons or ate or talked in class. They claimed that they were then hit, sometimes even with a rubber hose.

The accused were arrested and held in detention for two weeks before being conditionally released. Their lawyer denies that this was really child abuse and says that it was more of an educational slap.

Source: HLN (Dutch)

See also: Odense: Reports of abuse at Somali school

No comments: