Enlarge image
Trial in Bandung: defendant in the courtroom
Photo: Heru Asprihanto / REUTERS
An Indonesian appeals court has sentenced a teacher to death for raping at least 13 schoolgirls.
The Supreme Court in the city of Bandung on the island of Java thus overturned a life sentence that a lower court had previously imposed on the founder of an Islamic boarding school.
The public prosecutor's office had appealed – they wanted to achieve a harsher punishment for the man.
The court also ordered his assets confiscated and used to compensate his victims aged 14 to 20.
Many of them came from poor families and had attended school on scholarships.
At least eight of the victims became pregnant.
The man was arrested last May after allegations of rape at the boarding school became public.
During his first trial, the 36-year-old admitted his wrongdoing and apologized to his victims.
No death sentences have been carried out in Indonesia since 2016.
Dispute over draft law
The case prompted calls for the predominantly Muslim country's government and parliament to speed up deliberations on a law to prevent sexual violence.
Some conservative Muslim groups oppose the bill, saying it encourages promiscuity by not criminalizing extramarital sex and same-sex relationships.
The case also highlighted 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.
wit/dpa/AFP
