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By IOL Reporter 
5h ago
An Arab BBC News investigation has uncovered systemic child abuse within Islamic schools in Sudan. There are almost 30,000 Islamic schools, known as “khalwas” throughout Sudan.
The research, “Schools That Chain Children”, has found that children as young as five are routinely chained, chained and beaten by “sheikhs,” or religious in charge of schools. The investigation also found evidence of sexual abuse.
For 18 months, the undercover journalist Fateh al-Rahman al-Hamdani, who used to study in a khalwa, secretly filmed inside 23 khalwas in Sudan.
He found children chained and chained and witnessed brutal beatings on a routine basis. Many of the children were malnourished and living in miserable conditions, forced to sleep on the ground in extreme heat. Sick children were left without medical help.
At the center of the BBC investigation are two children, Mohamed Nader and Ismail, who were beaten so badly that they nearly died. The boys were imprisoned and tortured for five days in their khalwa without food or water, and their wounds were rubbed with tar.
A few months after his recovery, Mohamed Nader reveals that he witnessed the rape of children inside the khalwa by older students. “The worst thing about the khalwa is rape. They make you go against your will. “
When the BBC confronted the sheikh in charge of the children’s khalwa, he admitted that it was wrong to imprison the children, but argued that the beatings and shackles were “full of benefits” and that “most Khalwas use chaining , not only me”.
When asked about the allegations of sexual abuse, he categorically denied these claims and accused our reporter of attacking the Quran. The sheikh died in a car accident earlier this year.
The film follows the recovery of the children and their families’ fight for justice as they confront the sheiks who wield great power and influence in Sudan. Mohamed Nader’s mother, Fatima, hopes that since the 2018 revolution and the overthrow of the Islamist government of Omar al Bashir, they have a better chance of holding those responsible for the khalwas accountable. “Should we sacrifice our children to honor the religious?” He asks in the BBC documentary.
During the course of the investigation, the BBC found more reports of rape and sexual abuse in other khalwas. A medical examiner, who examined three children who had recently escaped from one of Sudan’s many khalwas, told the BBC that the children were repeatedly raped: “I asked them ‘How did they rape you? They said: “Sometimes our families visit us, they rape us just before we arrive.”
Research reveals that it’s not just children who are abused. In a khalwa in central Sudan, the BBC filmed adult men chained to their beds, allegedly being treated for mental illness and addiction. One man told our undercover reporter: “They chain you up and beat you with a stick like a donkey … we are their slaves.”
In Sudan, state prosecutors are obliged to take up all cases of crimes against children, but when they take place within khalwas, the authorities act slowly. When asked whether beating, chaining, and torturing children within the khalwas is considered a violation of children’s rights, an Omdurman prosecutor, Batool Sharif Ahmed, told the BBC: “This is normal practice within the the khalwas. These children are sent to the khalwa with the consent of their parents. “
In the case of Mohamed Nader and Ismail, the police arrested the sheikh in charge of the school and three other teachers. They were accused of assault and perversion of justice and released on bail. The khalwa remains open and the new sheikh in charge told the BBC that beatings of children would not be tolerated under his leadership.
At the time of publication, thousands of children are still at risk of abuse within the Khalwas. The Minister for Religious Affairs told BBC News in Arabic that they are assessing the state of the Khalwas across the country, but that it is impossible “to solve a problem caused by 30 years of the old regime overnight.”
MESS
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