The Principal of Moein School Convicted of Sexual Abuse Sentenced to Prison and Flogging

According to reports from Iranian news agencies, the verdict for the principal of Moein School in Tehran was issued on Saturday, July 23, and he has been sentenced to imprisonment and flogging. The specific duration of the prison sentence and the number of lashes have not been disclosed. Gholamhossein Esmaeili, the head of the Tehran judiciary, stated on Saturday that if there is an appeal from the prosecutor or the defendant, the case will be sent to the appeals court. Mr. Esmaeili announced that due to the non-finality of this ruling, he is not allowed to disclose details. The court for this case was held on Saturday, July 16. On Tuesday, May 28, several Iranian media outlets, including Khabar Online, reported that one of the officials at a boys' middle school in a private educational complex in Tehran's District 2 was arrested following the sexual abuse of a group of students. Some media reported that there were 40 plaintiffs in this case, and others stated that 17 students from this school had undergone psychoanalysis, with 16 of them having experienced 'assault.' The prosecutor and the head of the Tehran judiciary also reported complaints from the parents of 15 students to the judiciary. However, ultimately, Gholamreza Mansouri, the head of the Ershad prosecutor's office, announced that this case has eight private plaintiffs and that the charges against this principal include 'encouragement of corruption and child abuse.' Following this incident, Moein School was dissolved by the Ministry of Education, and Nasser Kouhestani, the director of District 2 of Tehran's education department, resigned. Meanwhile, Tasnim news agency reported on July 20 that the principal of Moein School had 'held a video of the principal's interactions with students but did not inform the judicial authority.' However, officials from the Ministry of Education have not commented on this matter, and no report has been published regarding the prosecution of the school's principal. Reports about the 'sexual abuse' of several students at Moein School have once again raised the issue of educating children to prevent sexual abuse, a topic that some extremist religious groups in Iran oppose. While some government officials and members of parliament state that part of the training in UNESCO's 2030 document is 'aimed at preventing assault and protecting individuals' privacy,' the implementation of this document was halted last year following protests from the Supreme Leader and his close associates. Mohammad Bat'haei, the Minister of Education, announced on June 16 that training in 'social skills' for middle school students would begin to teach them to 'protect against external threats.' The Supreme Leader of the Islamic Republic, in a directive to the head of the judiciary, called for the swift trial of the defendants in this case and the implementation of 'divine limits' regarding them, and some analysts believe that the purpose of issuing this directive is to 'obscure the role of Ayatollah Khamenei's office' in issuing a 'clearing' verdict for Saeed Toosi. Plaintiffs in the Saeed Toosi case, a famous Quran reciter, had previously spoken about the role of Ali Moghaddam, the communications officer of the Supreme Leader's office, in issuing the 'clearing' verdict for Mr. Toosi. Reports of sexual abuse of students by teachers have been published previously. In addition to the issue of child sexual abuse in schools, several murder and sexual abuse cases have made headlines in recent years, including the sexual abuse and murder of six-year-old Neda in Mashhad, Atena Aslani in Parsabad, three-year-old Ahura in Rasht, and six-year-old Afghan girl Setayesh Qureshi in Varamin.