Qur’anic schools and nuns
Other Voices
TBy Ahmad alsarraf
he Nigerian authorities raided a group of religious schools (memorizing of the Qur’an centers) and rescued thousands of male and female students from inhuman and degrading conditions in which they lived.
The authorities found a big number of teenagers and men in dark enclosures, bound with chains. These dark enclosures were called torture rooms and here the ‘masters’ tortured those who did not follow their orders. It turned out there were many cases of rape.
The investigations revealed the horrific atrocities and obscenities carried out by teachers of religious subjects against students. The school officials justified the beating of the boys in the name of reform and instill in the students the sense of responsibility, especially that their families had brought the children to school to memorize the Qur’an and as a kind of rehabilitation from drug abuse, and other problems that they were suffering from because the parents believed they would be corrected from such ills.
The behavior of the owners and principals of these schools who have no conscience was no different from that practiced by the terrorist organizations which exploit and abuse the children physically, psychologically and sexually.
The exploitation of religion to offend others under false pretexts is a catastrophe in the full sense of the word.
On the other hand, a network of men said to belong to the Spanish Red Cross operating under the cover of volunteer humanitarian work have been arrested for bringing children from African countries, especially from Darfur and Chad, to trade in human organs.
In another incident, the Lebanese judge, Nazek Al-Khatib, ordered the arrest of two nuns, including the president of the association, for their failure to implement a judicial verdict which required to hand over children whose dignity had been violated.
The nun opposing the decision was armed with Patriarch Bkerke’s protection for her, and refused to hand over the children except at the personal request of the Patriarch.
The president of the association refused the judiciary order to transfer 12 children claiming that she was protecting them despite the fact that the court saw that their presence in the association poses a danger to their lives.
The reasons for the decision issued by the judge adjudicating the misdemeanor of juveniles in Baabda, Joel Abu Haider, were shocking. The judge singled out the pages of her decision to record the atrocities committed within the aforementioned association, ranging from feeding children with expired products, by pushing them to watch porn films, to harass and assault and threaten them.
The statements of children were supported by photos showing what they say about food. Not only that but there is information that the nuns applied severe pressure on the children to prevent them from exposing the actions of one of the monks, while sources talked about interventions from a political and religious authority to cover up the issue.
The association’s refusal to receive delegates from social circles to listen to the complaints of the minors more than once has reinforced the court’s conviction about suspicious behavior taking place inside it, including accusations of selling children especially those of unknown parents in exchange for large sums of money, depending on the child’s color.
From all of this, we see that we live in a very dangerous world, and that no party should be excluded from monitoring and accountability on the pretext that they are religious or humanitarian workers.
e-mail: habibi.enta1@gmail.com