The public relations director of the Isfahan Provincial Education Department announced that the principal and superintendent of a school where a number of students were sexually abused have been dismissed. The person accused of rape has also been arrested.
Alireza Mehdi, the public relations director of the Isfahan Provincial Education Department, announced on Monday, December 3, that the principal and superintendent of a boys' school where a number of students had been sexually abused have been dismissed.
Alireza Mehdi's remarks followed the publication of news about the rape of students at a boys' school in the fourth district of Isfahan, which was widely shared on social media on Sunday evening and caused a wave of concern among the students' parents.
Parents' gathering
On Monday morning, video and images of a gathering of parents of students at the school were posted on social media. The news reports stated that the attacker was not a member of the school's teaching staff.
Regarding the cases of sexual assault of children at this school, which have been reported by some of the children's parents, the public relations director of the Isfahan Provincial Education Department said that this issue "is just an allegation and nothing has been proven yet."
Alireza Mehdi said that officials from the General Directorate of Education and District 4 of Isfahan arrived at the school on Monday morning to investigate the dimensions of the incident.
The accused, who was the vice president of the school's parents' and teachers' association, has been arrested. Mehdi added: "We are awaiting the final opinion of the forensic doctor. The Education Department of District 4 has also filed a complaint against this person for destroying the dignity of education."
In an interview with the Isfahan Emrooz website, Alireza Mehdi noted that the boys' school has not been closed and "if there has been any negligence by the school's administrators, they should be dealt with. The principal and the superintendent of this school have been dismissed and a supervisor has not yet been appointed for this school." He said that the school has hundreds of other students who "have rights and should continue their education."
Child abuse or rape
According to IRNA, the Public and Revolutionary Prosecutor of Isfahan called the incident that occurred in one of Isfahan's boys' schools "amounting to child abuse" and said that "rape has not been proven."
Ali Esfahani, the prosecutor of Isfahan, added in an interview with IRNA on Monday that this matter was reported to the judicial system on December 1 of this year, when four parents of students at one of the schools in Isfahan filed a complaint, and that the perpetrator had sexually harassed a number of students.
He added: "The accused has also been arrested and has so far denied the matter, and preliminary investigations into the dimensions of this incident are still ongoing, and additional news will be announced."
Isfahani urged the parents of these students to "be assured that if the crime of this person, who is also one of the students' parents, is proven, he will be punished by the judicial system."
Families' concerns
In a report by ISNA News Agency about this incident, one of the parents of a student said: "If this school didn't have cameras, such an incident would have happened. Children enter this school with fear and trembling and are afraid of the bathroom."
Other parents of students have spoken of the children's fear and threats to silence. The parent of one student said: "They left a mark on one of the children's hands with a knife so that the children could not speak."
The parents of the students are demanding that all families of the school's 400 students be asked whether their children have been sexually assaulted. The school's cameras are also said to have been tampered with.
According to Ali Esfahani, the Public and Revolutionary Prosecutor of Isfahan, the children who were accused of sexual assault have been referred to forensic medicine.
Source: DW
