Muslim Cleric Jailed for Child Abuse at a West Yorkshire Mosque

Sabir Hussain, a hard line Muslim scholar and volunteer religious teacher at a mosque in West Yorkshire, has been sentenced to serve 10 weeks in jail for kicking and slapping young boys during religious classes at the mosque. The assaults were secretly filmed for a Channel 4 documentary, which was shown in February and subsequently led to a police inquiry. Hussain admitted to the charges of assault. While he emphasised that the attacks were not gratuitous, he admitted that he had gone too far in his attempts to chastise the boys. According to the Guardian, the District Judge Sue Bouch considered his action a gross breach of trust and a serious offence. Yet, while she originally intended to jail Hussain for 26 weeks, she reduced the sentence to 16 and then to 10 weeks, due to his early guilt please and a glowing series of references from ex-pupils.