Two teachers and one supervisor at a Quran school in Borgerhout (Antwerp) have been sent to court on charges of child abuse, accused of having given a number of student corporeal punishment. The accused taught in a Quran school associated with the Bilal mosque. The investigation began in June 2006 after a complaint from the Sint-Norbetus Institute, where several of the involved kids were studying. They had complained to their teachers about the corporeal punishment they had received at the Quran school whenever they didn’t know their lessons or talked in class. The accused were arrested and held in detention for two weeks before being conditionally released. Their lawyer denies that their clients’ actions constitute child abuse.
