Sexual Harassment of Teacher Against Elementary School Girls Confirmed; Contradictory Reports from Officials

Following the release of a report on a teacher’s “assault” of several female students and the “attempt” by education officials to cover it up, the South Khorasan Education Organization confirmed the existence of this case, and the province’s judicial authorities were also forced to take a position.

On Wednesday, July 29th, the South Khorasan Judiciary declared that the abusive teacher’s main charge in Firdows city, South Khorasan, was “child abuse” and emphasized that the allegation of assault “has no validity.” This official body also attributed news of the assault to “hostile media.”

However, on the same day, the head of this judiciary announced that the teacher had engaged in “sexual exploitation” of young girls.

According to Ali Mohammadi Rad, the Chief Justice of South Khorasan, preliminary investigations by administrative authorities and the prosecutor’s office determined that the defendant “by showing obscene films through a mobile phone to young girls and some immoral behaviors, engaged in harassment, torment, and sexual exploitation through the possession of young children.”

According to him, the criminal court, based on legal grounds and despite the defendant’s denials of some charges, sentenced him to three months of disciplinary imprisonment for “making obscene content accessible to minors and adolescents,” two years in prison for the charge of harassment and torment, and five years in prison for sexual exploitation through the possession of children.

The court also sentenced the defendant to an additional punishment of a two-year ban on residing in Firdows.

These statements come after the South Khorasan Judiciary issued a statement on Wednesday, July 29th, announcing that seven complaints against the defendant were filed in courts in June.

Based on this statement, “in only six cases was child abuse the charge and was proven. Verdicts have been issued for six of the complainants, which can be contested in the province’s appellate courts, and one complainant’s case is still under investigation.”

As the South Khorasan Judiciary and its head have announced, “with some complainants’ objections to the verdict issued by the court, the case of harassment and torment of children in Firdows has been sent to the province’s appellate court, and legal investigations and examinations continue.”

The number of complainants in this case, which has been registered as seven people by judicial authorities, has been mentioned as “18 people” in unofficial reports on social networks.

Contrary to the South Khorasan Judiciary’s statement, the Director General of Education for South Khorasan also announced that the students themselves said they had been subjected to “physical and verbal abuse” by this 55-year-old male teacher.

According to Alireza Mousavinezhad, Director General of Education for South Khorasan, this teacher, whose identity was announced as “M.D.,” had “28 years” of work experience and “had no criminal record whatsoever.”

Based on official reports, the defendant, in Ordibehesht month of the current year, at his home’s parking lot in Firdows city, outside teaching hours, “in coordination with seven parents of elementary school students, conducted private tutoring and supplementary classes.”

The harassed students explicitly stated that this teacher insisted that individual tutoring classes be held, and in these classes he subjected them to “verbal and physical abuse.”

However, the refusal of the Ministry of Education and the South Khorasan Judiciary to use the term “sexual harassment” comes as the “Muneban” website wrote on Wednesday: “This teacher, by abusing private classes, distributed obscene images and films to children and subjected them to sexual harassment.”

Based on this report, “after some time, due to the change in these students’ morale, crying, and other signs, families became suspicious, and after following up, it was determined that M.D. had assaulted these students.”

Muneban added: “In one case, the complainant also raised the claim of removing her daughter’s virginity (through the defendant’s finger over clothing) and requested virginity compensation payment (Mehr al-Mithl).”

In contrast, the South Khorasan Judiciary attributed the mention of assault to “hostile media” and threatened that “any publication of falsehoods and spreading of rumors is considered a crime under law and subject to legal prosecution.”

Source: Radio Farda