Wednesday, November 23, 2011

A volunteer religious teacher at a mosque in Yorkshire has been jailed for 10 weeks for kicking and slapping young boys during lessons at a mosque

Sabir Hussain admitted four charges of assault after the attacks were secretly filmed for a TV program. The 60-year-old said that they were not gratuitous but chastisement, which he accepted had gone too far. Hussain, who was wearing traditional dress, lodged an immediate appeal but was denied bail and taken from the court in handcuffs. The sentencing hearing was told that the assaults, which involved four boys, happened at the Markazi Jamia mosque, where Hussain taught after retiring from the textile industry. Footage was shown on a TV documentary, leading to a police inquiry. Clips from the program, screened in court, showed Hussain walking up behind a line of boys sitting at prayer tables and kicking one in the back. Other footage showed him kicking other boys and slapping one repeatedly. The TV program also exposed what the Department for Education called a culture of intolerance at the Darul Uloom Islamic high school in Birmingham. The school's headteacher has since been replaced and a number of teachers dismissed.

No comments: