An imam at a mosque in the northern Italian city of Treviso has been indicted for allegedly inflicting severe beatings on small children put in his charge for Koran lessons.
Many thanks to FouseSquawk for the translation, and to Vlad Tepes for the subtitling:
Video transcript:
00:00 | Slaps in the face, pinches on the arms, and blows inflicted with a club | |
00:04 | a half meter long upon children who were only five years of age. | |
00:08 | The charges against the imam of the mosque of Pieve di Soligo in Treviso Province are serious, | |
00:12 | put together by the Carabinieri of Vittorio Veneto. The Carabinieri were informed of what happened | |
00:16 | at Via Schiratti by the reports from the pupils’ teachers, | |
00:20 | who recognized the bruises on the legs and arms of their pupils, | |
00:23 | and thus instigated an investigation on the part | |
00:26 | of the magistrate, who issued an order against 36-year-old Omar Faruq | |
00:30 | investigated for maltreatment of minors aggravated by personal violence. | |
00:34 | For the Bangladeshi, the precautionary measure has been applied | |
00:37 | of a ban on residing in the province of Treviso. | |
00:40 | The [Carabinieri] cases took several months, and the images and recordings incriminated the imam. | |
00:46 | There are believed to be about twenty children in all who were victimized | |
00:50 | by maltreatment, threats and child violence that the man had | |
00:54 | inflicted upon the children. A story that has left its mark. | |
00:58 | The mayor of the small town, Stefano Solda, doesn’t go details | |
01:01 | concerning the cases on the part of the magistrate. | |
01:04 | We have tried to ascertain whether the allegation is real, | |
01:08 | being extremely delicate, and as a consequence, the case was not | |
01:14 | in the public domain. Also, since it has involved various families, | |
01:20 | we have handled it with the strictest restraint, and | |
01:23 | it will continue to be in respect to the provisions for the families, and as to who has | |
01:27 | been involved in this, but with a decision to proceed rapidly. | |
01:32 | But those who know the imam try to defend him — a person of calm character and in no way aggressive. | |
01:37 | Did you know the imam? — Yes, he’s a good person. | |
01:41 | He has never caused any trouble here, nothing. We have always seen | |
01:45 | that he is a good person, and he also comports himself well. | |
01:49 | But we don’t know where this thing comes from because for so many years, | |
01:53 | he has taught children and nothing like this has ever happened. | |
01:56 | We meet with the secretary of the mosque, who serves as host to show us where the children pray. | |
02:01 | A finger has never been raised against the children, because | |
02:04 | the place of prayer, where the Koranic lessons are held requires that the children not be struck. | |
02:09 | He has never hit the children? —No, no never | |
02:12 | like this, never like this, because I know, because my son also studies in there; | |
02:16 | there is more security with him, understand? | |
02:20 | It is safer with him. |
More amazing than the fact the imam beats children is the fact his name isn’t Mohammad or some variant therof!
Are we to believe that the children’s teachers noticed the bruises but the parents did not? Since this would hardly seem to be the case, what can we make of the parents’ lack of action? It could be that they were fearful to complain to the imam, or possibly had already complained but were intimidated into saying no more. The other possibility is that the parents condoned the use of violence against their own children—after all, it was used to instil the fear of Allah in them.
Banning this imam from living in the area will be of no use. He will no doubt continue his violent tactics with other children, in other places.
The Canadian activist, Tarek Fatah, sometimes posts videos showing violent behaviour against children in Pakistani schools and mosques. They are hard, if not impossible, to watch. How warped is the mind that thinks abuse is the way to teach a child and how warped is the society/religion that accepts it as a common, everyday occurrence?
Time for ‘State/Government inspecting bodies’ to start getting the social microscope out. A good scrutineer should be able to see the signs of abuse whatever the threat of non reveal. The younger the subject is the easier the ‘symptoms’ are to spot. All other ‘centre’s of learning’ have checks, policies and laws in place to prevent this so why not religious organisations?