Teacher tortures, kills boy

2008-05-30 14:08

Multan, Pakistan - A blind seven-year-old student at an Islamic school in eastern Pakistan has died after his teacher punished him for not learning the Qu'ran, police said on Friday.

Muhammad Atif was hung upside down from a ceiling fan and severely beaten by his teacher, Qari Ziauddin, at the seminary or madrassa in Vihari, near Lahore on Thursday, they said.

Pakistani Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani had ordered an inquiry into the death, an official statement said.

"The prime minister has expressed his deep sorrow and concern over the tragic death of Muhammad Atif, who reportedly died as a result of corporal punishment by his teacher," the statement said.

Police said the teacher had been arrested on charges of torturing and murdering the boy.

"Qari Ziauddin, who teaches Qu'ran to boys in Qari Latif Islamic school, hanged Atif upside down on a ceiling fan in the school after beating him with sticks, which caused his death," local police official Akram Niazi told AFP.

The teacher also failed to take the boy to hospital after he fell ill and his condition deteriorated, he said.

Police said a post-mortem report also confirmed physical torture as the cause of death.

Pakistan's 13 000 registered madrassas offer free schooling and board to hundreds of thousands of poor children in this devout nation, but some have also been linked to Islamic extremism.

- AFP