Teacher, 23, gets 10 years’ jail for physically assaulting 3 boys under his care at GISB-linked religious school

KLANG: A teacher at a religious school that has been linked to the Muslim conglomerate Global Ikhwan Services and Business Holdings (GISB) was sentenced to 10 years’ jail on Thursday (Sep 26) after he pleaded guilty to inflicting physical injuries to three children under his care.
Muhammad Barur Rahim Hisam appeared before the Klang Sessions Court and confessed to committing the offences at the Al-Mahabbah Welfare and Education Organisation in Bukit Raja, Klang Utara in July 2024, the Malay Mail reported.
The news portal also identified the 23-year-old as a teacher at the Miftahul Hikmah Integrated Islamic Primary School. 
The Vibes reported that Barur pleaded guilty to four charges, which include caning three boys as well as kneeing one of them in the chest.
The four charges come under Section 31(1)(a) of the Child Act 2001, which carries a maximum penalty of a RM50,000 (US$12,000) fine or up to 20 years imprisonment, or both.
The New Straits Times (NST) reported that the court had ordered Barur to serve a two-year jail term each for the first and second charges, and three years each for the third and fourth charges. 
The jail term is to run consecutively from the date of his arrest, and the court also imposed a five-year good behaviour bond with a surety of RM10,000.
He will serve a six-month jail term if he fails to adhere to the bond. 
The prosecution said that the authorities had conducted a raid earlier this month after receiving information about abuse. They seized a cane and a mobile phone containing a video recording of the suspect striking a child five times.
On the first and second counts, NST reported that Barur was separately charged with abuse by repeatedly caning two boys aged 11 and 10 on their palms in a manner likely to cause them physical injuries. 
On the third and fourth counts, he was charged with abusing another 10-year-old by kneeing him on his chest and caning him in June and September this year.
Deputy public prosecutor Kalmizah Salleh asked the court to impose a maximum sentence to serve as a lesson to the accused and a deterrent to society, NST reported. 
“He should be protecting them. His acts of abuse on the children, which caused injuries, were overboard. The viral videos attracted public interest and had caused an uproar,” she reportedly said. 
Barur, who did not have a lawyer, said in mitigation: “I am truly repentant and vow not to repeat it. I am aged 23, unmarried and supporting my parents. 
“If possible, I ask for a light sentence. That is all,” he said.
Separately, Malaysia’s Minister of Domestic Trade and Cost of Living Armizan Mohd Ali said that his ministry has imposed compounds amounting to RM4.4 million against 12 GISB-linked companies recently.
The compounds were issued after an investigation by the Companies Commission of Malaysia (SSM) found that the 12 companies did not comply with the requirement to submit their annual statements and financial statements, Bernama reported.
“Besides GISB, there are 17 other companies using the GISB name in their SSM registration. At the same time, a review of data and websites related to GISB or ‘Ikhwan’ found that 201 businesses could be linked to GISB.
“One of the company’s responsibilities every year is to submit their audited financial statements. SSM investigation found that these 12 companies did not comply with the responsibility of submitting their Annual Statement and Financial Statement,” said Mr Armizan.
GISB Holdings, a Muslim conglomerate, which has assets totalling around RM325 (US$78.6 million) million globally, was established in 2010. 
It owns supermarkets, minimarkets, bakeries,120 restaurants and other businesses in Malaysia, the Middle East, Europe and China, according to a 2022 report cited in Free Malaysia Today (FMT).
GISB is believed to have close links to the Al Arqam sect, which was banned by Malaysian religious authorities in 1994 for deviant practices.
On Sep 11, authorities in Malaysia rescued 402 children and teenagers from 20 care homes in Selangor and Negeri Sembilan that were allegedly owned by GISB. Initial investigations found that at least 13 of them had been sodomised or taught to sexually abuse others.
And the number of those rescued has since ballooned to 572 children and teenagers as of Sep 24, FMT reported.
More than 300 people – including GISB’s senior management – have since been detained.
On Sep 25, Malaysia Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim vowed that he will not compromise in the probe against GISB. He stressed that the authorities are working to uncover the group’s alleged misconducts.