"Case filed" against a teacher in Ahar on charges of child abuse, "which happened last year"

Following the publication of news of child abuse by a teacher in Ahar, the city's Revolutionary Prosecutor says that the incident occurred last year.

On Saturday, October 25, the Rokna news website reported the harassment of a female student and four male students by their teacher in the village of Godal, Ahar County, in recent days.

According to the report, all of these children had made similar statements to their families that their teacher had stripped them naked and abused them.

The report also stated that the students' teacher, when dealing with the families, said that he intended to "caress" the children.

In response to this news, Hossein Sabour, the director of public relations for East Azerbaijan Education, in an interview with ILNA news agency on Sunday, October 25, considered it "impossible" for this incident to occur in the early days of the school year and said that "it has not yet been confirmed to us whether this happened or was a slander."

According to Mr. Sabour, this matter is being investigated by the Ahar County Prosecutor's Office, and the teacher in question is currently free on bail.

Meanwhile, the Public Prosecutor and the Revolutionary Prosecutor's Office of Ahar also announced that the incident occurred last year and said that only two of the parents of these students had filed complaints.

Some social media users have identified the teacher of these students as a Basij member and a close associate of the Friday prayer imam of Ahar.

In previous years, other similar news stories about sexual harassment of students have been published, including the sexual harassment of a number of students by the principal of a non-governmental high school in Tehran's second district.

After nearly 10 years of conflict with the Islamic Consultative Assembly, the Guardian Council finally approved the bill to protect children and adolescents in June 2020.

According to Article 4 of this law, "Any kind of physical and mental harm, harassment, and torture of children, intentional disregard for their mental and physical health and well-being, and prevention of their education are prohibited, and the perpetrator is sentenced to three months and one day to six months in prison or a fine of up to 10 million rials."

Source: Radio Farda