Two teachers at an Islamic school in Birmingham have changed their plea to guilty and confessed to beating a ten-year-old boy with a stick for making mistakes when reciting the Quran.
Mohammed Siddique, 60, and his son Mohammed Waqar, 23, spoke through an interpreter at Birmingham Crown Court to admit child cruelty. They will be banned from their mosque until September when they are to be sentenced and could face jail.
They confessed to using a plastic cane to hit the boy on the hands and legs, and to slapping him in the face on four occasions, leaving him with bruising on his limbs and a black eye.
The men, who will be banned from teaching, were described as being “of some standing in the community.” Prosecutor Matthew Brook said he was content with their pleas, as the ruling would send a message that such behaviour was “unacceptable and criminal”.
Judge Mark Wall QC told the men: “The conduct of each of you was serious and the judge who passes sentence will have all options open to him or her,” The Asian Image reports.
The abuse took place at a mosque in the Sparkbrook area of Birmingham between May and June last year. Three men from Sparkbrook were handed down life sentences in 2013 for planning to detonate eight bombs across the UK.
The district is controlled by the hardline Deobandi sect, which was founded in 19th century India specifically to oppose “western imperialism.” In 2013, West Midlands Police said that the biggest threat from al-Qaeda inspired domestic terrorism outside of London came from Sparkbrook.
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