Mosque Teacher Given Light Sentence for Years of Abuse
A teacher at a mosque in England has been given a sentence of community service and a small fine for years of abuse of his young students in Backburn.
Although the English court convicted Kurran Hussain, 25, of assault of boys aged eight and nine, Hussain was only required to pay each victim £150 and do 270 hours of community service.
The court heard testimony by the boys who studied with Hussain every evening, learning to memorize verses from the Quran. The boys testified before the court that they had been hit by Hussain for three years. One victim said, “He hits people when they do not learn. He uses his fists and slaps them on their body, anywhere.”
The boys also reported that they were also forced to sit for long periods of time in “stress positions,” such as standing with their legs bent like a chair against a war or bending over and grabbing their ears through their legs.
They were repeatedly punched in the stomach and called names. The abuse took place while the curtains to the outside were closed.
Hussain was supported in court by seven members of the mosque committee. Judges were also told that that after the case become known in the media, parents had written letters to the mosque in support of Hussain.
In meting out the decision, the judges stated that Hussain had shown a “gratuitous degradation of the victims. It was abuse of power by a person in a position of trust.”
Hussain had been teaching at the mosque for six years and maintained his innocence throughout the trial.