Urmia Prosecutor: Some Opportunistic Elements Arrested After Attack on a School

The public and revolutionary prosecutor of Urmia announced the arrest of "some opportunistic elements" who, according to him, attacked two other schools in the city "under the pretext of protesting the incident on Tuesday, November 1, at a school in the Islamabad area of Urmia." According to Iranian news agencies, this gathering was related to reports of "the harassment of a 12-year-old girl student by the school janitor." Mustafa Habibi stated that investigations into the arrested individuals have begun and added, "Around 10 PM last night, a small group of opportunists again attacked two other schools, causing damages, and some of them were arrested while others fled, and efforts to arrest them continue." News agencies reported on Tuesday, November 1, that angry citizens of Urmia gathered in protest against "the harassment of a 12-year-old girl student by the school janitor" in front of the "Shahada Road" school in the Islamabad area of Urmia. ILNA news agency quoted eyewitnesses as saying that the protesting people overturned the janitor's car and broke the school's windows. The public and revolutionary prosecutor of Urmia noted that together with some officials of Urmia, they spoke with the parents of the students and "invited them to disperse and pursue the matter legally, which, honestly, with the calming of the situation, ordinary people whose feelings had been aroused by hearing the news dispersed." Mustafa Habibi said that the janitor of this school has also been arrested under a judicial order. Meanwhile, Abbas Hassan Khani, the governor of Urmia, on Tuesday denied the "rumor of sexual harassment" of this 12-year-old girl and stated that school officials "confirmed the falsehood of this claim." According to Mr. Hassan Khani, "Investigations indicate that the school janitor had a phone contact with one of the girl students, and this matter is being pursued legally by the parents of this student, and even the father of this student expressed his consent after filing a complaint." Fereydoun Seyed Mostafavi, the director general of education in West Azerbaijan, told Tasnim that "according to the child's statements, the school janitor hugged her and harassed her. However, the exact details of the matter are still unclear to us." He also added that "the father of this child has given his consent at the police station." Nevertheless, according to the state news agency IRNA, Fereydoun Seyed Mostafavi said on Tuesday night: "The mentioned service worker has been arrested, and the prosecutor's office is investigating the matter, and the results will be announced to the public soon." Meanwhile, Tasnim reported on Tuesday, quoting the political-security deputy of the West Azerbaijan governorate, denied the occurrence of sexual harassment in the incident at the girls' school in Islamabad, Urmia. Alireza Radfar stated that "initial and preliminary evidence indicates that the school janitor behaved inappropriately, but it is not sexual harassment." In this context, according to IRNA, Mohammad Bat'haei, the Minister of Education, called to console the teachers of the schools in the Islamabad area of Urmia that were attacked by "some opportunistic individuals" on Tuesday, stating that the issue of Shahada Road school in Urmia will be pursued through legal channels. IRNA noted that "two to four teachers were hit by stones, and currently, this school is closed due to the extent of the damage and destruction." In this regard, according to the news agency Khabar Online, the Minister of Education issued a special directive to his special inspector to investigate the matter of the harassment of a girl student by the janitor of this school in Urmia. There are no accurate statistics available regarding child sexual abuse in Iran, and the public release of such statistics in the Islamic Republic is considered a red line for organizations and media. In 2014, Javid Sabahi, a member of the Child Rights Support Association, stated in an interview with ISNA that "32% of middle and high school girls have experienced sexual harassment." Officials from other provinces in Iran have previously reported on implementing plans to prevent "sexual abuse" of children.