Prominent Pakistani cleric arrested, charged with sexual abuse

Pakistan police on Sunday arrested Mufti Azizur Rehman, former vice-president of the main opposition party of Pakistan Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-Fazl (JUI-F) Lahore and a “Sheikh-al-Hadith” or “Scholar of Hadith” of Lahore’s seminary Jamia Manzoorul Islamia, on charges of sexual abuse.

According to the UAE’s Gulf News, a police team from Lahore carried out a raid on a house Rehman was reportedly hiding in and also took his two sons into custody.

Rehman is accused of sexually assaulting one of his students at his seminary.

The case was registered against Rehman after a video clip showing him allegedly sexually assaulting one of his students went viral on social media.

The JUI-F dissociated itself with the suspect immediately after the scandal came to light and demands were made on social media for exemplary action against the cleric, Gulf News reported.

The complainant said in his statement to police he had been studying at the Jamia when Rehman banned him from writing three exams.

Gulf News reported that the complainant said he pleaded with Rehman to reconsider the decision upon which the cleric agreed but on condition of sexual favour.

“It was purely for the sake of passing the exam and under duress that I agreed to become a victim. He also promised me that he would have my ban removed and get me to pass the Wifaqul Madaris exam,” the complainant said.

“I lodged complaints with the administration of the seminary several times but no one was ready to believe me,” said the complainant.

It was then that he started to secretly film the abuse and collected evidence.

“When Mufti Aziz came to know that, he threatened to kill me,” the young man told the police. “A few days ago, when someone uploaded the video on social media, I got scared and went into hiding,” the student further said in the charge-sheet.

Rehman denies the allegations and said in a video statement that he was drugged by his student, Gulf News reported.

“In fact, the boy gave me sedatives in my tea and after that I lost all my senses,” he said, adding the biggest proof of his ‘piety’ was that in the video footage it could be seen that his body was not even moving.

“If I were in my senses, how could I remain ignorant of the fact that he was making a video from his phone,” asked the cleric in his video statement.

Rehman is expected to appear in court on Monday.