Sexual Abuse of Several Students at a High School in West Tehran

Reports from Iran indicate that an official at a boys' middle school in a private educational complex in District 2 of Tehran has been arrested following the sexual abuse of a group of students. Khabar Online reported that the families of some students became aware of the situation and filed a complaint against the individual in question. One of the parents stated in an interview with this media outlet that "my son had become aggressive and extremely nervous for several months, and we even thought he was ill. We took him to a doctor, and the treatment for his aggression continued until my son revealed what had happened to him at school." According to the father, one of the school officials had coerced the children into immoral acts by showing them pornographic images via mobile phones. In this context, some Iranian media have released a video showing the parents of the victimized students at the school, stating that 17 students have undergone psychological evaluation, and 16 of them reported having been sexually abused. The deputy education officer of the region assured the families in the video that the education department itself is one of the complainants against this official, but some parents rejected this claim and demanded to see the complaint case number from the education department. In response to the parents' objections, this official stated in the video that "the education department does not intend to cover up the issue and is itself a complainant in the case." Khabar Online reports that images provided by the parents of the students show the individual in question handcuffed and confessing in the presence of police that he had incited the children to immoral acts by distributing pornographic images. The parents state that the children are currently undergoing psychological treatment and, despite being in the exam season, are severely affected psychologically. In recent years, several cases of sexual abuse in schools and even Quranic circles have been reported in the media, the most famous being the sexual abuse allegations against Saeed Tusi, a well-known Quran reciter. Mahmoud Sadeghi, a member of the sixth parliament, announced last February that he had been "acquitted." He tweeted that "Branch 56 of the Tehran Court of Appeals issued a ruling without the signature of the court president, overturning the four-year prison sentence against the voice and tone instructor based on the votes of two advisors from another branch; the documents indicate clear influence in the judicial process. The case had been taken from the court by the director general of the judiciary for about two years."