The Case of a Repeat Criminal Assaulting Teenage Boys in Shushtar

A journalist has reported the assault of teenage boys by a repeat offender in the city of Shushtar, located in Khuzestan Province.

Masih Alinejad, a journalist and host of the Voice of America’s Tablet program, announced that she has received videos of an individual assaulting 12 and 13-year-old boys that are “extremely horrifying.”

She wrote on her Telegram channel: “Ahmad Tan-tan,” a repeat criminal and thug from Shushtar who had previously been imprisoned multiple times, was released most recently through one of his relatives. The person who released this repeat offender comes from an influential family in Shushtar.

Based on reports that reached this journalist, after his release, this criminal, along with two of his friends, assaulted 12 and 13-year-old boys and filmed the assaults.

It is reported that the assailant used these videos to threaten the victims, saying that if they informed their families about the incident, he would distribute the videos.

Masih Alinejad announced that in the videos she received, four teenage boys were assaulted, but it is believed that the number of victims may exceed four.

It has also been reported that these videos reached the hands of some of the victims’ families, but in addition to being threatened by the assailant, they were also threatened by police that they have no right to publicize this matter, otherwise they would face legal action.

It is said that the victims are from poor families in Shushtar and do not have access to legal counsel. They are concerned that filing a complaint would cause the assailant to take revenge on the child victims and their families once again after being released.

It appears that the assailant’s family is attempting to close the case using medical documents and certificates of psychological disorders.

Shahin Samadpour, a documentary filmmaker and social reporter in Iran, has also confirmed this news and announced the arrest of the assailant on his Instagram page. Other reports indicate that this criminal was arrested in the past week.

However, the publication of this news sparked numerous reactions on Twitter. Many users compared this incident with the case of “Saeed Tousi,” a Quranic reciter accused of sexual harassment, using the hashtag “Child Assault in Shushtar.” Tousi was affiliated with the office of the Supreme Leader of the Islamic Republic.

The Islamic Republic has a poor track record in handling cases of child sexual assault. For instance, in the case of “Mohammad Gandamnezad Tousi,” known as Saeed Tousi, a Quranic reciter close to the Supreme Leader’s office, who was accused of sexually harassing teenage Quranic reciters after complaints were filed by the parents of some of the young reciters after several years.

Although after two years of proceedings in the Tousi case in 2015, with serious family follow-ups, the judge sentenced the reciter to four years in prison, ultimately the Islamic Republic’s judiciary issued an acquittal ruling for Saeed Tousi in December 2017.

In June, the deputy principal of a high school in Tehran was also accused of widespread sexual harassment of students. This time, Iran’s leader issued a directive to the head of the judiciary ordering that after trial, divine punishments be implemented as soon as possible for the defendants in the case.

Leader Khamenei’s response came at a time when in recent years, allegations against one of his close associates not only did not face such a similar order, but senior members of the Supreme Leader’s office utilized their authority to halt proceedings in the cases brought by Saeed Tousi’s complainants.

Source: Voice of America