11-Year-Old Malaysian Boy Dies After Beating In School
Mohamed Thaqif Amin Mohd Gaddafi, a Malaysian 11-year-old boy died on Wednesday after being beaten in an Islamic School in Singapore. The boy had allegedly suffered physical abuse so severe the doctors had to amputate both his legs after he was admitted to the hospital, two weeks following the beating. The boy slipped into an induced coma shortly after the amputation but eventually succumbed a month later. He died with his father Mohd Ghadiffi Mat Karim and his mother Felda Wani Ahmad by his side.
Mohamed Thaqif, along with other 14 children, was whipped on the legs with a water hose as punishment in an Islamic School located in Johor, Singapore. The said punishment was done by the school's assistant warden, district police chief Rahmat Othman informed Reuters. Public outcry ignited after photos of the 11-year-old's gruesome injuries circulated online. "We are now waiting for the medical and autopsy reports from the hospital before taking further action," Rahmat said.
Tahfiz schools, like the one where the Malaysian boy was in, are run by state religious departments, not by the education ministry, which has a set of firm rules regarding corporal punishments for students. After the incident, the public demanded closer scrutiny on Tahfiz schools.
"To this day, we do not know who are actually in charge of regulating tahfiz schools," Noor Azimah Abdul Rahim, Parent Action Group for Education chairman, told Reuters. Prime Minister Najib Razak expressed his condolences through Twitter on Wednesday, saying "I would like the investigation into this case to be speeded up and for legal action to be taken if any offences were committed."
This follows after a controversial bill was proposed to induce harsher forms of the Islamic penal code, such as punishments like whipping. Najib supported the bill, but announced last month that coalition would not table the bill.
