A young student cries after being rescued in a police raid on Madrassa Zakarya in Karachi, late on December 12, 2011. Pakistani police rescued 53 students, including children as young as seven, who had been chained in the basement of the madrassa in the port city of Karachi
Pakistani police said Tuesday they had rescued 53 students, including children as young as seven, who had been chained in the basement of a madrassa raided by security forces in the port city of Karachi.
Former students including an eight-year-old told AFP they were regularly beaten at the school, which was equipped with chains, hooks and a warren of basement rooms. The head of an education federation called it a "torture cell".
Shame of Britain's Muslim schools: Secret filming shows pupils being beaten. Welcome to one of Britain’s most influential Islamic faith schools, one of at least 2,000 such schools in Britain, some full-time, others part-time. They represent a growing, parallel education system. The school is the Darul Uloom Islamic High School in Birmingham, an oversubscribed independent secondary school. Darul Ulooms are world-renowned Islamic institutions and their aim is to produce the next generation of Muslim leaders. In fact, these schools have been described as the ‘Etons of Islam’.
Threatened: An older pupil holds down a boy while another pupil - put in charge during the teacher's absence - aims a bench at him