The story of Herry Wirawan, an Indonesian teacher, has shaken the country and brought attention to the need to protect children in religious boarding schools from sexual violence. In a trial on Monday, an Indonesian court sentenced a teacher to death for raping 13 girls at an Islamic school. In February, prosecutors had the death penalty filed an appeal after there was a life imprisonment sentence by a court in the city of Bandung.
“(We) hereby punish the defendant with the death penalty,” the judge said in a statement on Monday posted on the Bandung High Court’s website. Herry’s lawyer, Ira Mambo, did not comment on if or not there would be an appeal. Before reacting, a representative for the local prosecutor’s office said the office will wait for the final verdict.
Officials in Indonesia have backed calls for the death sentence of the teacher
Between 2016 and 2021, Herry sexually groomed 13 girls, who were between 12 and 16 years old, and impregnated eight of his victims, a judge said in February. The chairman of Indonesia’s Child Protection Commission said the previous verdict meant ‘justice for the victims has been served’. A family member of one of the victims spoke to the AFP news agency. He said he was ‘very disappointed’ that Wirawan did not receive a more harsh term. He also expressed his concern that leniency would encourage future abusers.
‘This wound will never be healed as long as we live, maybe until we die. The pain we are feeling is indescribable. We don’t feel heard,’ said Hidmat Dijaya, an uncle of one of the 13 victims. ‘If the sentence is lenient like this, there will be more Islamic teachers who will abuse children,’ he added. ‘We will let God as the highest judge punish him. We can only pray because those judges failed to represent our hurt and pain.’
However, officials in Indonesia, including the country’s minister of child safety, have backed calls for the death sentence. Even though the country’s human rights commission, which opposes the death penalty, has declared it is not appropriate. Indonesia is certainly the world’s largest Muslim majority country. It has tens of thousands of Islamic boarding schools and other religious schools. These are often the only means of obtaining an education for youngsters from disadvantaged households.
