Indonesia: Life imprisonment for teachers for raping 13 schoolgirls

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Accused in court in Bandung: crimes over several years

Photo: Rafi Fadh/AP

A court in Indonesia has sentenced a teacher to life imprisonment for raping 13 schoolgirls.

The court in Bandung on the island of Java found the 36-year-old man guilty of raping underage girls in an Islamic boarding school for years.

At least eight of the victims became pregnant.

The cases of abuse at the school became known when the family of a pregnant student went to the police and reported the teacher.

In the process it turned out that he had abused children for five years.

Many of them came from poor families and had attended school on scholarships.

Prosecutors demanded the death penalty

Prosecutors had asked for chemical castration and the death penalty for the accused.

However, the teacher asked the court for clemency so that he could raise his children.

According to the court, compensation for the victims will be paid by the government.

The case had sparked outrage across Indonesia - and threw a spotlight on the conditions in Islamic boarding schools.

In Indonesia there are more than 25,000 Islamic boarding schools, the so-called pesantren, where almost five million students live and study.

After the regular classes, they often have religious instruction well into the evening.

Last year, two teachers at a boarding school in South Sumatra were arrested for allegedly sexually abusing 26 male students.

In 2020, a teacher in East Java was sentenced to 15 years in prison for molesting 15 schoolgirls.

kfr/AFP