The story comes from The Clarion Project.
Severe Child Abuse Alleged by Children at Ohio Mosque
Allegations of severe child abuse at an Ohio madrassah (Islamic school) are being investigated by police after a group of Somali children (who attend a public school in the daytime) reported being chained to a wall by their wrists and ankles and beaten with a long stick for not learning their religious texts as instructed.
In addition, another child reported witnessing the beatings as well as being beaten himself on his legs with a belt. In addition, he reported having seen a student have his head stepped on for complaining of a headache.
The children, between the ages of eight and 10, all attend the madrassah located in the Masjid As-Salaamah mosque in Columbus.
The allegations came amid a normal day at Mark Twain Elementary school in Westerville, where a class of mostly Somali children learning English were having a discussion with their teacher. The teacher happened to remark that she was impressed with the children’s knowledge of the Koran.
According to the elementary school’s policy, teachers are obligated to report any suspected child abuse. Although a request to speak to the teachers by a 10TV, a local news outlet, went unanswered, the school issues the following statement:
"Given the nature of the information shared by students with their teacher, school officials were obligated to immediately file a report with the authorities, which they did. Those authorities have determined that an investigation is merited."
In an interview with 10TV, Mahdi Warsama, a board member of the mosque, said, "These things cannot happen in our watch.If there is any merit to these allegations, I assure you, Masjid As-Salaamah will deal with it professionally, and swiftly, and responsibly."
1 comment:
The silence from the mainstream media is deafening.
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