The case of teacher Harry Uiravan shocked Indonesia and shed light on the need to protect children from sexual abuse in religious boarding schools in the country.
After he was sentenced to life in prison by a court in Bandung in February, prosecutors calling for the death penalty have filed a complaint.
“(We) are punishing the defendant with the death penalty,” the judge said in a statement Monday, posted on the Bandung Supreme Court’s website.
Ira Mambo, Harry’s lawyer, declined to comment on whether there would be an appeal, citing the need to see the court’s full ruling.
A spokesman for the local prosecutor’s office also said he would wait for the final decision before commenting.
Between 2016 and 2021, Harry sexually cut the hair of 13 girls between the ages of 12 and 16 and fertilized eight of his victims, a judge said in February. Some have suffered rape.
Indonesian officials, including the country’s Minister of Child Protection, also backed calls for the death penalty, although the National Commission for Human Rights, which opposes the death penalty, said it was not appropriate.
Indonesia, the world’s largest Muslim country, has tens of thousands of Islamic boarding schools and other religious schools that often provide the only way for children from poorer families to get an education.
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